A comprehensive and accurate description of the powers of the President of the United States. The book is intended primarily to benefit non-lawyers in understanding the sources and limits of the President’s powers, and their means of influencing his actions, but the work will be enlightening for lawyers as well.
— Justice John Paul Stevens (ret.)
Both a primer and a sophisticated analysis of the constantly evolving balance of power between the President, the Congress, and the Judiciary.
— U.S. Senator Slade Gorton
Image may be NSFW.
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Two of my distinguished University of Washington Law School colleagues, Lisa Manheim and Kathryn Watts, have just released a unique and impressive book entitled The Limits of Presidential Power: A Citizen’s Guide to the Law ($7.99 paper) ($2.99 e-book, free with Kindle Unlimited subscriptions via Amazon.). Here is the abstract:
“This one-of-a-kind guide provides a crash course in the laws governing the President of the United States. In engaging and accessible prose, two law professors explain the principles that inform everything from President Washington’s disagreements with Congress to President Trump’s struggles with the courts, and more. Timely and to the point, this guide provides the essential information every informed civic participant needs to know about the laws that govern the president–and what those laws mean for those who want to make their voices heard.”
I’ve read this book. It is a quite accessible and highly reliable overview of the law of presidential power. Here is some of the advance buzz about the book:
This smart and indispensable guide begins where old-fashioned civics leaves off, and talks to troubled and puzzled Americans as adults. The authors demonstrate that the future of our democracy is where it’s always been: in our hands, if only we learn how to invoke the available limits on the power of the president. –– Linda Greenhouse
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Prof. Lisa Manheim
Lisa Manheim and Kathryn Watts have written a wonderful book on presidential power, its scope, and its limits. The book is clearly written and easily accessible and is terrific in explaining the authority of the President and the checks on his power. The book is especially timely now, but it is about issues that have arisen since the beginning of the country and that will last as long as the Constitution. — Erwin Chemerinsky
The authors have provided a truly impressive chapter on climate change that is both sweeping and compelling, and have done so with crystal clarity and gripping narrative drive. As a result, the climate change chapter, like the rest of this book, offers every reader not only a ready understanding of a vital and complex issue and of the varying roles the government has played in shaping the issue, but also of the opportunity–for better or worse–that stakeholders and members of the public have to shape U.S. climate change policy going forward. If this is the only piece on climate change policy that a person reads, then he or she will be very well-informed and well-equipped to engage with the issue. — Joseph Goffman
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Prof. Kathryn Watts
A concise and crisp primer on the limitations of presidential power. The subject is timely and well worth pondering. This work should interest students concerned with law and the separation of powers and American politics, as well as the general public. — David M. O’Brien
In America, no one is above the law, not even the president. For anyone who has ever wondered ‘can he really do that?’ this clear and concise book on presidential power is a must read. Likewise, for everyone who cares about democracy and the rule of law, Watts and Manheim are your best guides to effective citizenship. — Kellye Testy