Power and Constraint: The Accountable Presidency After 9/11

This book reveals the surprising truth behind Barack Obama's decision to continue many of his predecessor's counter-terrorism policies. The novel powers that post 9/11 commanders-in-chief assumed- endless detentions, military commissions and broad surveillance- are the culmination of a two century expansion of presidential authority. But these new powers have been met with thousands of barely visible legal and political constraints- enforced by congressional committees, government lawyers and courts- which have transformed the unprecedentedly powerful presidency into one that is also unprecedentedly accountable.