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Questions or comments? Please contact the editor, Denise Shanks
This exercise relates to the Policy Debate in Chapter 13 dealing with Iraq and Presidential Power. The goal of this exercise is to give you a better understanding of recent Supreme Court rulings on the limits of Presidential power during wartime and the importance of Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances. The Constitution (as interpreted by the Supreme Court) balances the need for security against the need for freedom and human rights. You will read and discuss two articles from the Christian Science Monitor, the goal of which will give you a better understanding of the limits on Presidential power and the importance of freedom.
1. What impact did the rulings have on the Bush Administration’s anti-terrorism tactics?
2. What does Justice O’Connor mean when she argues that a “state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens?"
Read this Christian Science Monitor article http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1221/p02s01-usju.html
3. Explain why Osama Bin Laden’s driver cannot yet be tried as a terrorism suspect. What requirement would the Bush administration need to fulfill before it can try Hamdan as a terrorist?
4. What benefits do prisoners receive if they are found to be prisoners of war?
5. Some Bush administration officials have considered using torture acceptable and recent reports reveal that hundreds (if not thousands) of prisoners have been tortured in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan. Do you think this had an impact on the Court’s decision to give due process to terrorist suspects?
6. Read the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution (found in the appendix of your text.) Do you think the framers would have wanted one person to be able to indefinitely lock up citizens without some kind of hearing?
7. Do you think these rulings struck a fair balance between human rights and executive powers? Irrespective of the Constitution, do you think the President should have the powers that President Bush sought?
