With the stroke of a pen : executive orders and presidential power
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
With the stroke of a pen : executive orders and presidential power
Princeton University Press, 2002
[New ed] / with a new preface by the author
- : pbk
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Note
Previous ed.: 2001
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The conventional wisdom holds that the president of the United States is weak, hobbled by the separation of powers and the short reach of his formal legal authority. In this first-ever in-depth study of executive orders, Kenneth Mayer deals a strong blow to this view. Taking civil rights and foreign policy as examples, he shows how presidents have used a key tool of executive power to wield their inherent legal authority and pursue policy without congressional interference. Throughout the nation's life, executive orders have allowed presidents to make momentous, unilateral policy choices: creating and abolishing executive branch agencies, reorganizing administrative and regulatory processes, handling emergencies, and determining how legislation is implemented.
From the Louisiana Purchase to the Emancipation Proclamation, from Franklin Roosevelt's establishment of the Executive Office of the President to Bill Clinton's authorization of loan guarantees for Mexico, from Harry Truman's integration of the armed forces to Ronald Reagan's seizures of regulatory control, American presidents have used executive orders (or their equivalents) to legislate in ways that extend far beyond administrative activity. By analyzing the pattern of presidents' use of executive orders and the relationship of those orders to the presidency as an institution, Mayer describes an office much more powerful and active than the one depicted in the bulk of the political science literature. This distinguished work of scholarship shows that the U.S. presidency has a great deal more than the oft-cited "power to persuade."
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix Acknowledgments xi One: Why Are Executive Orders Important? 3 Two: Executive Orders and the Law 34 Three: Patterns of Use 66 Four: Executive Orders and the Institutional Presidency 109 Five: Executive Orders and Foreign Affairs 138 Six: Executive Orders and Civil Rights 182 Seven: Conclusion 218 List of Abbreviations 225 Notes 227 Index 279
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