Overview

Examines the role of constitutional ambiguity across the entire spectrum of American history and how it impacts our interpretation of presidential power. While the rise of autocratic presidential powers has been widely noted by scholars in recent years, with calls by some for a stronger or more accountable presidency, Constitutional Ambiguity and the Interpretation of Presidential Power is among the first entirely dedicated to a study of the impact of this ambiguity on how scholars, judges, and presidents have understood executive power. Embarking on a detailed examination of legal, historical, and political science literature across the broad scope of American history, Richard W. Waterman examines the concerns of the Constitution's Framers regarding the fear of monarchy and a tyrannical president. He then discusses the writing and ratification of the Constitution and by drawing on insights from the time of the Framers to the present day, he provides a unique historical timeline related to the discussion and analysis of constitutional ambiguity. Over the course of several chapters, he finds that no sole theory defines presidential power, and ambiguity rules the day, allowing presidents to find power in the Constitution's silences as well as its various nooks and crannies, which has led to the very real danger of an autocratic presidency.

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Reviews

""Waterman asks questions of absolutely first order importance to the study of the American presidency. After recognizing the essential ambiguity of Article II, he then establishes its significance for a broad array of arguments about the outer reaches of presidential power through US history. Rather than adjudicate debates about which specific constitutional interpretations are, in one sense or another, objectively correct, Constitutional Ambiguity and the Interpretation of Presidential Power helps to clarify the sheer variety of claims that this ambiguity has supported. At a time of acute anxieties about presidential power and democracy, this book is sorely needed."" — William Howell, author of Presidents, Populism, and the Crisis of Democracy

"""Waterman asks questions of absolutely first order importance to the study of the American presidency. After recognizing the essential ambiguity of Article II, he then establishes its significance for a broad array of arguments about the outer reaches of presidential power through US history. Rather than adjudicate debates about which specific constitutional interpretations are, in one sense or another, objectively correct, Constitutional Ambiguity and the Interpretation of Presidential Power helps to clarify the sheer variety of claims that this ambiguity has supported. At a time of acute anxieties about presidential power and democracy, this book is sorely needed."" — William Howell, author of Presidents, Populism, and the Crisis of Democracy"

Author Information

Richard W. Waterman is Professor of Political Science at the University of Kentucky. He is the coauthor, with Kirk A. Randazzo, of Checking the Courts: Law, Ideology, and Contingent Discretion, also published by SUNY Press.

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