The Oath and the Office

June 18, 2018
Brettschneider, a Brown political science professor, delves deeply into the U.S. Constitution for legal guidance to the historically controversial question of the scope of U.S. presidential powers. He approaches the topic through an unusual—and occasionally awkward—conceit, positing himself as the legal adviser to an imagined reader who aspires to be the next president. Brettschneider begins with an exploration of Article II of the Constitution, which sets out the presidency’s explicit powers, then considers the implicit limitations on those powers imposed by the Bill of Rights, and completes his tutorial with a discussion of the Constitution’s provisions for impeachment. Among the questions considered are a president’s right to hire and fire members of the executive branch, constitutional prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment as it applies to torture, and the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law as it pertains to minorities and immigrants. Some readers will disagree with Brettschneider’s left-leaning conclusions, as when he rejects originalism, a literalist way of interpreting the Constitution associated with the late conservative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, because “it does not account for some of the most widely recognized... rights that we have today.” However, all should find his core discussion of the many considerations inherent in the exercise of presidential powers to be accessible and timely.