war and emergency powers

"[An] ... account of a raging debate: The history of the ongoing struggle between the presidents and Congress over who has the power to declare and wage war. The Constitution states that it is Congress that declares war, but it is the presidents who have more often taken us to war and decided how to wage it"--Provided by publisher.

"Long before the uprising at the Capitol, the threat of insurrection has held a mirror to America's highest ideals and deepest fears. The Insurrection Act of 1807--passed amid pervasive fears of slave rebellion--authorizes the president to deploy federal troops to quell domestic uprisings. Invoked during Reconstruction and the civil rights movement, the Act was deployed to enforce the promise of equal citizenship for Black Americans"--Provided by publisher.

"Douglas Carl Peifer compares the ways in which different presidential administrations have responded when American lives were lost at sea. He examines in depth three cases: the Maine incident (1898), which led to war in the short term; the Lusitania crisis (1915), which set the trajectory for intervention; and the Panay incident (1937), which was settled diplomatically"--Provided by publisher.

Examines controversies surrounding military might and global intervention, tracing the history of armed intervention, discussing options for nonmilitary intervention, as well as arguments for and against the use of armed intervention, and encourages students to utilize critical thinking skills to create informed opinions on the issue.

The Drone Memos collects for the first time the legal and policy documents underlying the U.S. government?s deeply controversial practice of ?targeted killing??the extrajudicial killing of suspected terrorists and militants, typically using remotely piloted aircraft or ?drones.? The documents?including the Presidential Policy Guidance that provides the framework for drone strikes today, Justice Department white papers addressing the assassination of an American citizen, and a highly classified legal memo that was published only after a landmark legal battle involving the ACLU, the New York Times, and the CIA?together constitute a remarkable effort to legitimize a practice that most human rights experts consider to be unlawful and that the United States has historically condemned.

"A timely account of a raging debate: The history of the ongoing struggle between the presidents and Congress over who has the power to declare and wage war. The Constitution states that it is Congress that declares war, but it is the presidents who have more often taken us to war and decided how to wage it. In Waging War, United States Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals David Barron opens with an account of George Washington and the Continental Congress over Washington's plan to burn New York City before the British invasion. Congress ordered him not to, and he obeyed. Barron takes us through all the wars that followed: 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American war, World Wars One and Two, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and now, most spectacularly, the War on Terror. Congress has criticized George W. Bush for being too aggressive and Barack Obama for not being aggressive enough, but it avoids a vote on the matter. By recounting how our presidents have declared and waged wars, Barron shows that these executives have had to get their way without openly defying Congress. Waging War shows us our country's revered and colorful presidents at their most trying times--Washington, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Johnson, both Bushes, and Obama. Their wars have made heroes of some and victims of others, but most have proved adept at getting their way over reluctant or hostile Congresses. The next president will face this challenge immediately--and the Constitution and its fragile system of checks and balances will once again be at the forefront of the national debate"--.

Examines the War Powers Resolution passed during the 1970s that put a sixty-day limit on the president when dispatching troops into combat without congressional approval, and discusses how presidents before and after the resolution have ignored congressional authority and have used military force to fulfill their own objectives.

Chronicles the attempts by the Bush administration to extend the bounds of presidential authority while limiting official culpability, maintaining that they have not provided a complete explanation for its detention policy.

Chronicles the attempts by the Bush administration to extend the bounds of presidential authority while limiting official culpability, maintaining that they have not provided a complete explanation for their detention policy.