The Unitary Executive; Presidential Power from Washington to Bush

by Steven G. Calabresi and Christopher S. Yoo

• ISBN13: 9780300121261
• ISBN10: 0300121261
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2008-09-02
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This book is the first to undertake a detailed historical and legal examination of presidential power and the theory of the unitary executive. This theorythat the Constitution gives the president the power to remove and control all policy-making subordinates in the executive branchhas been the subject of heated debate since the Reagan years. To determine whether the Constitution creates a strongly unitary executive, Steven G. Calabresi and Christopher S. Yoo look at the actual practice of all forty-three presidential administrations, from George Washington to George W. Bush. They argue that all presidents have been committed proponents of the theory of the unitary executive, and they explore the meaning and implications of this finding.

Author Biography

Steven G. Calabresi is professor of law, Northwestern University, and co-founder of the Federalist Society. He lives in Providence RI. Christopher S. Yoo is professor of law, University of Pennsylvania Law School. He lives in Penn Valley, PA.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
An Introduction to the Debate over the Unitary Executive
The Oldest Debate in Constitutional Law and Why It Still Matters Today	p. 3
The Modern Debate	p. 10
Why Presidential Views of the Scope of Presidential Power Matter	p. 22
The Preratification Origins of the Unitary Executive Debate and the Decision of 1789	p. 30
The Unitary Executive During the Early Years of the Republic, 1787-1837
George Washington	p. 39
John Adams	p. 58
Thomas Jefferson	p. 64
James Madison	p. 77
James Monroe	p. 83
John Quincy Adams	p. 91
Andrew Jackson	p. 95
Jackson's Battle with the Bank and the Removal of Treasury Secretary Duane	p. 105
The Unitary Executive During the Jacksonian Period, 1837-1861
Martin Van Buren	p. 124
William Henry Harrison	p. 130
John Tyler	p. 133
James K. Polk	p. 139
Zachary Taylor	p. 144
Millard Fillmore	p. 148
Franklin Pierce	p. 152
James Buchanan	p. 157
The Unitary Executive During the Civil War, 1861-1869
Abraham Lincoln	p. 165
Andrew Johnson	p. 174
The Tenure of Office Act and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson	p. 179
The Unitary Executive During the Gilded Age, 1869-1889
Ulysses S. Grant	p. 190
Rutherford B. Hayes	p. 196
James A. Garfield	p. 203
Chester A. Arthur	p. 206
Grover Cleveland's First Term	p. 209
The Unitary Executive During the Rise of the Administrative State, 1889-1945
Benjamin Harrison	p. 219
Grover Cleveland's Second Term	p. 226
William McKinley	p. 232
Theodore Roosevelt	p. 238
William H. Taft	p. 246
Woodrow Wilson	p. 253
Warren G. Harding	p. 261
Calvin Coolidge	p. 265
Herbert Hoover	p. 273
Franklin Delano Roosevelt	p. 278
The Brownlow Committee and the Reorganization Act of 1939	p. 291
The Unitary Executive During the Modern Era, 1945-2007
Harry S Truman	p. 305
Dwight D. Eisenhower	p. 318
John F. Kennedy	p. 331
Lyndon B. Johnson	p. 337
Richard M. Nixon	p. 346
Gerald R. Ford	p. 356
Jimmy Carter	p. 362
Ronald Reagan	p. 374
George H. W. Bush	p. 384
Bill Clinton	p. 391
The Clinton Impeachment and the Fall of the Ethics in Government Act	p. 400
George W. Bush	p. 405
Conclusion	p. 417
Notes	p. 433
Bibliographic Note	p. 511
Index	p. 517
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