The National Security Constitution

The purchase of this ebook edition does not entitle you to receive access to the Connected eBook on CasebookConnect. You will need to purchase a new print book to get access to the full experience including: lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities, plus an outline tool and other helpful resources. National Security Law and the Constitution provides a comprehensive examination and analysis of the inherent tension between the Constitution and select national security policies, and it explores the multiple dimensions of that conflict. Specifically, the Second Edition comprehensively explores the constitutional foundation for the development of national security policy and the exercise of a wide array of national security powers. Each chapter focuses on critically important precedents, offering targeted questions following each case to assist students in identifying key concepts to draw from the primary sources. Offering students a comprehensive yet focused treatment of key national security law concepts, National Security Law and the Constitution is well suited for a course that is as much an advanced “as applied” constitutional law course as it is a national security law or international relations course. New to the Second Edition: New author Gary Corn is the program director for the Tech, Law and Security Program at American University Washington College of Law, and most recently served as the Staff Judge Advocate to U.S. Cyber Command, the capstone to a distinguished career spanning over twenty-seven years as a military lawyer Two new chapters: Chapter 1 (An Introduction to the “National Security” Constitution), and Chapter 17 (National Security in the Digital Age) Professors and students will benefit from: An organizational structure tailored to present these national powers as a coherent “big picture,” with the aim of understanding their interrelationship with each other, and the legal principles they share A comprehensive treatment of the relationship between constitutional, statutory, and international law, and the creation and implementation of policies to regulate the primary tools in the government’s national security arsenal Targeted case introductions and follow-on questions, enabling students to maximize understanding of the text Text boxes illustrating key principles with historical events, and highlight important issues, rules, and principles closely related to the primary sources Chapters that focus on primary or key authorities with limited diversion into secondary sources A text structure generally aligned to fit a three-hour, one-semester course offering

A deeply researched, fully updated edition of The National Security Constitution that explores the growing imbalance of institutional powers in American foreign affairs and national security policy Since the beginning of the American Republic, a package of norms has evolved in the U.S. Constitution to protect the operation of checks and balances in national security policy. This “National Security Constitution” promotes shared powers and balanced institutional participation in foreign policymaking. Today it is under attack from a competing claim of executive unilateralism generated by recurrent patterns of presidential activism, congressional passivity, and judicial tolerance. This dynamic has pushed presidents of both parties to press the limits of law in foreign affairs. In his award-winning National Security Constitution (1990), Harold Hongju Koh traced the evolution of this constitutional struggle across America’s history. This new book, based on the earlier volume but with roughly 70 percent new material, brings the story to the present, placing recent events into constitutional perspective. Reviewing the presidencies of the twenty-first century, he explains why modern national security threats have given presidents of both parties incentives to monopolize foreign policy decision-making, Congress incentives to defer, and the courts reasons to rubber-stamp. Koh suggests both a workable strategy and crucial prescriptions to restore the balance of our constitutional order in addressing modern global crises.

Tracing the history of government intrusions on Constitutional rights in response to threats from abroad, Cole and Dempsey warn that a society in which civil liberties are sacrificed in the name of national security is in fact less secure than one in which they are upheld. A new chapter includes a discussion of domestic spying, preventive detention, the many court challenges to post-9/11 abuses, implementation of the PATRIOT ACT, and efforts to reestablish the checks and balances left behind in the rush to strengthen governmental powers.

Discusses the Iran-Contra affair and its implications.

"Rudenstine's [book] traces the [Supreme] Court's role in the rise of judicial deference to executive power since the end of World War II. He [posits that], in case after case, going back to the Truman and Eisenhower presidencies, the Court has ceded authority in national security matters to the executive branch. Since 9/11, the executive faces even less oversight. According to Rudenstine, this has had a negative impact both on individual rights and on our ability to check executive authority when necessary"--

Introduction -- The counter-terrorism constitution -- Investigatory powers and the constitution -- The military constitution -- Citizenship -- Secrecy -- Justiciability -- Sovereignty.

Tracing the history of government intrusions on Constitutional rights in response to threats from abroad, Cole and Dempsey warn that a society in which civil liberties are sacrificed in the name of national security is in fact less secure than one in which they are upheld. A new chapter includes a discussion of domestic spying, preventive detention, the many court challenges to post-9/11 abuses, implementation of the PATRIOT ACT, and efforts to reestablish the checks and balances left behind in the rush to strengthen governmental powers.