Checks & Balances

In recent years, the Bush administration has sought almost unlimited power for the office of the presidency. The administration has declared that, in the role of Commander in Chief, the president is empowered to act preemptively in practically any manner he and his advisors deem necessary. The administration thus abandoned the standard processes of our checks and balances system.   

The Brennan Center is fighting to restore checks and balances as a defining feature of America’s constitutional scheme. In March 2007, Senior Counsel Fritz Schwarz and Liberty & National Security Director Aziz Huq published Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror (New Press, 2007), which makes the case that the system of checks and balances is necessary for preserving essential liberties and for forming wise policy. We also co-sponsored a nationwide conference in September 2007 entitled “Building Freedom, Building Security,” which brought together America’s premier national security experts for a dynamic conversation about what the country can do to fight terrorism while abiding by its traditions of justice and decency. We will be publishing a collection of the resulting essays in 2008.

    Hepting Amicus Brief (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)

    The Brennan Center filed in the Ninth Circuit Court an amicus brief for a group of civil rights organizations working on behalf of ethnic minorities in a case dealing with the legality of domestic surveillance programs.

    Mike Webb

    Checks & Balances Pop Quiz

    Welcome to the first-ever Brennan Center pop quiz.  Since each week brings more depressing news of torture, executive privilege, government spying, etc., we thought we’d share this test....

    Jonathan Hafetz

    Convictions: More Hypocrisy at Guantanamo

    Even as criticism mounts, Guantánamo’s underlying hypocrisy endures. That hypocrisy manifested itself again last week in a little-noticed decision…

    Jonathan Hafetz

    Convictions: John Yoo’s Tour de Force

    John Yoo’s recently released March 14, 2003, OLC memo is a tour de force of legal analysis gone bad. The memo has been rightly vilified here and elsewhere for making the president a king and for contributing to a torture culture in America. But even though Yoo’s memo has been repudiated, its discredited ideas live on....

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    Illustrations by Risko

    U.S. Government Admits It Destroyed Videotape in Enemy Combatant Case

    Yesterday the U.S. government admitted, for the first time, that officials destroyed videotapes that documented interrogations of Ali Almarri, the only alleged “enemy combatant” still detained on U. S. soil.

    Discredited Yoo Memos Led to “Enemy Combatant” Detainment and Denial of Habeas Corpus

    Today, the Brennan Center for Justice asked a federal court to end the detention of a U.S. resident who is being held on the advice of long-discredited Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memos which sought to justify torture and indefinite detention. 

    Government Fails to Muzzle “Peace Pastor” Frederick Boyle

    Rev. Boyle, the ordained minister known as the Peace Pastor, reached an agreement with the federal government today that ends his unfair prosecution and maintains his right to speak out against the Iraq War.

    More Press Releases

    Written Congressional Testimony of Fritz Schwarz

    Brennan Center’s Senior Counsel Fritz Schwarz’s written testimony before the House of Representative’s Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law in a hearing on “Ensuring Executive Branch Accountability”

    Memo Regarding Varieties of Executive Privilege

    Aziz Huq discusses the different types of executive privilege in use today.  Specifically, “presidential communications privilege,” the “deliberative process privilege,” attorney-client privilege, and claims of secrecy on grounds of national security are considered.

    More Legislation & Testimony

    Fitna’s Hateful Crusade

    Feared, condemned sight-unseen and praised as a celebration of free speech, Fitna, a seventeen-minute film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, appeared on the Internet in late March. Fitna is a bombastic, bloody montage linking terrorist violence to Koranic texts.

    Torture and Democracy: A Discussion with Professor Darius Rejali

    Listen to Professor Darius Rejali talk about the issues at the center of his book, Torture and Democracy. 

    Future of Guantanamo

    Listen to a panel discussion featuring Andy Worthington, Joanne Mariner, Wells Dixon, and Jonathan Hafetz on the timely and important issues revolving around the future of Guantánamo.

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