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.