Constitutionalism and the Claim of Inherent Presidential Authority
Instructor: Larry Berman, Department of Political Science, College of Letters and Science
Description: The subject matter in this Freshman Seminar is presidential power in the post-9-11 era. Issues that will be examined include the Bush Administration warrantless surveillance program and war making powers. The administration claims it does not need warrants by citing Congress’s post-September 11, 2001 authorization of military force and Article II of the U.S. Constitution. When Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee he claimed that “Presidents throughout our history have authorized the warrantless surveillance of the enemy during wartime.” The sensitivity of our culture and values to privacy and the fear of unwarranted government intrusion has its roots in the Bill of Rights and the extension and interpretation of its protections in public law and Supreme Court cases. The importance of limited government to our values and governance is rooted in the dictum that we have a government of laws and not of men and that no one is above the law. President Bush made a strong argument that such actions are necessary to protect the security of the United States. The nation was traumatized by the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and Bush was responding to the fear that the U.S. would be attacked again, as promised by al Qaeda. It may be wise, prudent, and desirable to conduct the type of surveillance that President Bush ordered the NSA to undertake. What is at issue is the president’s claim that he has the constitutional authority to conduct surveillance without warrants of U.S. citizens within the United States. In a state of perpetual alert and a war against the terrorist threat, the questions we will address involve constitutional balances as well as leadership. My goal in the seminar is for students to develop tools for critical thinking and analysis. In our system of limited government, the Constitution sets limits on what the government can do, and it lays out procedures for making laws and amending the Constitution.
Format: The seminar will meet two hours each week. Discussion will focus on the reading assignments and contemporary events. The book assignment will be to read the 9-11 Commission Report and reading materials that I will distribute in class. Grading: My goal is for all of us to actively engage one another. I place a premium on informed seminar participation. Grades will be based on seminar participation (30%), student debate presentations (30%) and two short (1-2 page) writing assignments (40%) modeled as informed opinion essays.
About the Instructor:Larry Berman joined the faculty at UC Davis in 1977. His teaching and research interests are on the presidency, foreign policy and Vietnam. He has written three books on the war in Vietnam, most recently No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger and Betrayal in Vietnam. His work has been featured on C-Span’s Book TV, the History Channel’s Secrets of War, Bill Moyers PBS series, “The Public Mind;” David McCullough’s American Experience series, “Vietnam: A Television History;” and C-SPAN. He received the Bernath Lecture Prize, given annually by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations to a scholar whose work has most contributed to our understanding of foreign relations. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and has been a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. and scholar in residence at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Center in Bellagio, Italy.