Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sean Heather, vice president of the U.S. Chamber's Center for Global Regulatory Cooperation, issued the following
statement welcoming todays announcement by the Obama Administration of a new executive order on
international regulatory cooperation: Todays
This
executive order provides a much needed political emphasis and sharpens
the administration's focus on international regulatory cooperation in
APEC, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and in bilateral regulatory dialogues
with key trading partners such as Canada, Mexico, and the European
Union. Over the past four decades, almost every president has made important contributions to the body of administrative law
that directs regulatory promulgation, but until today all of those contributions were domestic in nature. This executive
order is the international riposte. We look forward to working with the
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on further guidance in support
of todays executive order. The Center for Global Regulatory Cooperation seeks to align trade, regulatory, and
years, but not systematically and not always in a well coordinated fashion that supports our international economic policy objectives.
competition policy in support of open and competitive markets. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the worlds largest business
federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local
chambers and industry associations.
Solvency
SolvencyGeneral
Obama can push through virtually any executive order
Kumar 13 (Anita, McClatchy Newspapers, Obama turning to executive power to
get what he wants, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/19/186309/obamaturning-to-executive-power.html#.UdxwMD6gXFw) TYBG
President Barack Obama came into office four years ago skeptical of pushing the
power of the White House to the limit, especially if it appeared to be circumventing
Congress. Now, as he launches his second term, Obama has grown more
comfortable wielding power to try to move his own agenda forward,
particularly when a deeply fractured, often-hostile Congress gets in his
way. Hes done it with a package of tools, some of which date to George
Washington and some invented in the modern era of an increasingly powerful
presidency. And hes done it with a frequency that belies his original
campaign criticisms of predecessor George W. Bush, invites criticisms that
hes bypassing the checks and balances of Congress and the courts, and whets the
appetite of liberal activists who want him to do even more to advance their goals.
While his decision to send drones to kill U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism has
garnered a torrent of criticism, his use of executive orders and other powers
at home is deeper and wider. He delayed the deportation of young illegal
immigrants when Congress wouldnt agree. He ordered the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence, which Congress
halted nearly 15 years ago. He told the Justice Department to stop
defending the Defense of Marriage Act, deciding that the 1996 law
defining marriage as between a man and a woman was unconstitutional.
Hes vowed to act on his own if Congress didnt pass policies to prepare
for climate change. Arguably more than any other president in modern
history, hes using executive actions, primarily orders, to bypass or
pressure a Congress where the opposition Republicans can block any
proposal.
with a sweeping residual power over foreign affairs. Indeed, during the drafting
and ratification phases, no one suggested that Congress would enjoy
anything close to plenary authority over foreign affairs as it had under the
Articles. Nor did anyone suggest that Congress would enjoy all the foreign
affairs authorities not allocated to the President. We believe these
materials and arguments are sufficient to establish that the Presidents
executive power grants the power to control foreign affairs except where
the Constitution specifically allocates authority to Congress or requires that it be
shared with the Senate.
communications. Finally, we relate how Jefferson dealt with Genet when the latter
denied that Washington spoke for the nation. In the early days of the new
administration, Washington assumed control over foreign
communications. We have already discussed Jays illuminating letter to the
American agent in Morocco in which Jay instructed the agent that
communications to the United States from foreign nations would now be
directed toward the President rather than Congress.370 Jays construction of
the Constitution was entirely consistent with the Chief Diplomats because
Washington also believed that he could control communications with
foreign regimes. In a December 1789 letter to Muhammed Ben Abdalla, the King
of Morocco, the President asserted his authority as sole channel of official
intercourse. 371 After apologizing for the delay in responding to the Kings 1788
letter, the President explained that since he was the supreme executive
Authority, the Kings letter had been delivered to him.372 Likewise, after
reviewing a 1789 letter from Louis XVI addressed to the President and
Congress, Washington informed Congress that he would respond to the
letter. In the subsequent letter to Louis XVI, Washington explained that
because of the new Constitution, he had the honor of receiving and
answering the Kings earlier letter.373 Washington understood that, as part
of his supreme executive authority conveyed by Article II, Section 1, he
was to correspond with foreign governments, and their letters were to be
addressed to him as the nations sole representative. Congress never
challenged the Presidents communications monopoly. Although members
often held strong sentiments about overseas events, Congress never conveyed
those sentiments directly to another country. Nor did Congress ever command the
President to convey certain sentiments to foreign countries, as the
Continental Congress had commanded its Secretary for Foreign Affairs under the
Articles.375 Instead, Congress adopted resolutions that must seem odd to modern
observers of foreign affairs. Rather than passing a resolution that merely expressed
the congressional view (or the view of the House or the Senate), each chamber
beseeched the President to convey a message to the relevant foreign government.
For instance, after learning that the French King had accepted a new constitution,
the House and Senate requested that the President express the sincere interest
of the chambers in his answer to Frances notification.376 On another occasion,
the Senate and the House requested the President to respond favorably to a
letter from the notorious Committee of Public Safety.377 Finally, upon learning that
the French Republic had presented its colors, the House requested the President to
convey its sentiments to France.378
SolvencyDiplomats
The president can engage by sending diplomats
Prakash teacher of Constitutional Law, Foreign Relations Law
and Presidential Powers at the Law School. and Ramsey,
Professor of Law
Director, International & Comparative Law Programs at the
University of San Deigo01
(Saikrishna B. teaches Constitutional Law, Foreign Relations Law and Presidential
Powers at the Law School, Prakash was formerly Herzog Research Professor of Law
at the University of San Diego School of Law. He was senior editor of the Yale Law
Journal and a recipient of the John M. Olin Fellowship in Law, Economics and Public
Policy. and Michael D., Professor of Law
Director, International & Comparative Law Programs, Professor Ramsey teaches and
writes in the areas of constitutional law, foreign relations law and international
business law. 10/16/01, The Yale Law Journal, The Executive Power over Foreign
Affairs, http://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/111-2/PrakashFINAL.pdf, P.237, Accessed:
7/8/13, LPS.)
Second, modern foreign affairs scholarship has failed to provide a satisfactory
account of the source and allocation of presidential and congressional foreign
affairs powers. Scholars heatedly and inconclusively debate whether the President
or Congress should have the supreme role in foreign affairs, and have sharp and
seemingly insoluble disagreements over the allocation of particular foreign
affairs powers, such as the power to terminate treaties, the power to set
foreign policy, and the power to enter into executive agreements. Each
branch has its able academic advocates, but there seems little prospect of
resolution, or even agreement upon what the relevant considerations should be.
And even when foreign affairs scholars agree upon an appropriate
allocation in a particular area, they cannot explain why the conventional
allocation is the correct one. Most everyone agrees, for example, that the
President speaks for the United States in the international sphere and
can instruct and recall ambassadors, and most agree that Congress can
legislate with respect to a wide range of foreign affairs and national security
matters. Yet there is little attempt to explain how these allocations cohere with the
Constitutions text or to construct from these allocations a comprehensive theory
of foreign affairs powers.
5
executive officers, who are appointed by the President with the consent of
the Senate but can be removed by the President alone; on this theory,
ambassadors also could be removed (recalled) by the President alone. But this
assumes the President has plenary authority over ambassadors comparable to the
Presidents authority over executive officers, and that is not at all obvious from the
text. Because the President is constitutionally charged with enforcing the
laws, the President has an evident constitutional source of power over
executive officers who assist in the enforcement of he laws. Of course,
one similarly could argue that because the President is ultimately in
charge of foreign affairs (or at least in charge of communicating foreign
policy) and ambassadors are involved in foreign affairs (or at least in
voicing foreign policy), the President has power over them. But this
argument assumes a point not yet demonstrated: that the President controls
foreign affairs, or at least is empowered to communicate foreign policy.
As indicated, in modern foreign affairs scholarship the latter point is assumed while
the former is vigorously disputed. As a result, the Presidents supposed power to
recall ambassadors remains without textual foundation. Congresss power over
foreign affairs similarly suffers from assumptions unsubstantiated by text. The
conventional view is that Congress has broad power to legislate with respect to
foreign affairs and national security matters, although (perhaps) limited by the
Presidents foreign affairs powers.
SolvencyForeign Affairs/Investment
President has the ability to act in foreign investment
Prakash teacher of Constitutional Law, Foreign Relations Law
and Presidential Powers at the Law School. and Ramsey,
Professor of Law
Director, International & Comparative Law Programs at the
University of San Deigo01
(Saikrishna B. teaches Constitutional Law, Foreign Relations Law and Presidential
Powers at the Law School, Prakash was formerly Herzog Research Professor of Law
at the University of San Diego School of Law. He was senior editor of the Yale Law
Journal and a recipient of the John M. Olin Fellowship in Law, Economics and Public
Policy. and Michael D., Professor of Law
Director, International & Comparative Law Programs, Professor Ramsey teaches and
writes in the areas of constitutional law, foreign relations law and international
business law. 10/16/01, The Yale Law Journal, The Executive Power over Foreign
Affairs, http://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/111-2/PrakashFINAL.pdf, P.240, Accessed:
7/8/13, LPS.)
Thus, the arguments for the Presidents authority over foreign affairs rest largely
on structural inference 21 and the principle that the President is the
constitutional representative of the people and the Republic in foreign
affairs is inferred from the Presidents enumerated powers and from
the goals and functions of the federal government in the area of foreign
affairs. 22 Those dubious of presidential primacy may wonder whether Powells
structural inference is any better than Curtiss-Wright s invocation of external
sovereignty. 23 The apparent dearth of textual presidential powers over foreign
affairs leads a second group of scholars to the opposite conclusion: Congress, not
the President, should primarily control foreign affairs. John Hart Ely observes, for
example, that [t]he Constitution gives the president no general right to
make foreign policy. Quite the contrary. . . . [V]irtually every substantive
constitutional power touching on foreign affairs is vested in Congress. 24
Although advocates of congressional primacy inexplicably accord the President the
power to communicate with foreign powers, 25 they contend that Articles I and II
of the Constitution reveal the intent of the framers to give Congress the dominant
hand in the establishment of basic policy regarding foreign relations 26 and that
the Framers simply did not intend the President to be an independent and
dominating force, let alone the domineering one, in the making of foreign policy.
27
at the University of San Diego School of Law. He was senior editor of the Yale Law
Journal and a recipient of the John M. Olin Fellowship in Law, Economics and Public
Policy. and Michael D., Professor of Law
Director, International & Comparative Law Programs, Professor Ramsey teaches and
writes in the areas of constitutional law, foreign relations law and international
business law. 10/16/01, The Yale Law Journal, The Executive Power over Foreign
Affairs, http://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/111-2/PrakashFINAL.pdf, P.253, Accessed:
7/8/13, LPS.)
Executive Power over Foreign Affairs 253 sentence of Article II, the executive
Power shall be vested in the President. 88 Executive power, as
commonly understood in the eighteenth century, included foreign affairs
powers. As we elaborate below, Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone, the great
political philosophers most familiar to the Framers, said that foreign affairs
powers were part of the executive power. 89 Under the English system, as
these writers described it, the Crowns powers over foreign affairs arose from its
executive power. This was also the terminology of American writers and political
leaders immediately before, during, and after the Constitutions ratification. Hence,
in 1787, when the Constitution provided that the President would have
the executive Power, that would have been understood to mean not only
that the President would have the power to execute the laws (the
primary and essential meaning of executive power 90 ), but also
that the President would have foreign affairs powers. As a result, the
starting point is that foreign affairs powers are presidential, not from
some shadowy implication of national sovereignty, per Curtiss-Wright
, but from the ordinary eighteenth-century meaning of executive power. 91
Second , the Presidents executive foreign affairs power is residual,
encompassing only those executive foreign affairs powers not allocated
elsewhere by the Constitutions text. The Constitutions allocation of specific
foreign affairs powers or roles to Congress or the Senate are properly read as
assignments away from the President. Absent these specific allocations, by Article
II, Section 1, all traditionally executive foreign affairs powers would be presidential.
Perhaps, one could say from the text alone, some of the specific allocations might
only grant Congress a shared power and not deny it to the President. The War
Power Clause, for example, says only that Congress can declare war, not (in so
many words)
SolvencyInternational Agreements
International Agreements are the presidents jurisdiction
Prakash teacher of Constitutional Law, Foreign Relations Law
and Presidential Powers at the Law School. and Ramsey,
Professor of Law
Director, International & Comparative Law Programs at the
University of San Deigo01
(Saikrishna B. teaches Constitutional Law, Foreign Relations Law and Presidential
Powers at the Law School, Prakash was formerly Herzog Research Professor of Law
at the University of San Diego School of Law. He was senior editor of the Yale Law
Journal and a recipient of the John M. Olin Fellowship in Law, Economics and Public
Policy. and Michael D., Professor of Law
Director, International & Comparative Law Programs, Professor Ramsey teaches and
writes in the areas of constitutional law, foreign relations law and international
business law. 10/16/01, The Yale Law Journal, The Executive Power over Foreign
Affairs, http://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/111-2/PrakashFINAL.pdf, P.254, Accessed:
7/8/13, LPS.)
The Yale Law Journal [Vol. 111: 231 that the President cannot. But, as we describe
below, it is clear from context that everyone at the time understood the War Power
Clause (and others like it) as giving the power to Congress and denying it to the
President. The Constitutions drafters believed that the English system
afforded too much foreign affairs power to the monarch through the
undivided possession of the executive power, and that some aspects of the
traditional executive power over foreign affairs had legislative overtones
(including the war and treaty-making powers). 92 Accordingly, they divided the
traditional executive power over foreign affairs by creating specific (but
very substantial) exceptions to the general grant of executive power to
the President. In the document they created, many key foreign affairs powers
were either sharedsuch as the power to appoint ambassadors or make treaties
or allocated elsewheresuch as the power to declare war and issue letters of
marque. As a result, once the drafting was complete, the President had a greatly
diminished foreign affairs power as compared to the English monarchy. 93 But the
President retained a residual powerthat is, the President, as the possessor of
the executive Power, had those executive foreign affairs powers not
allocated elsewhere by the text. In short, far from suffering from huge gaps, the
Constitution has a simple default rule that we call the residual principle :
Foreign affairs powers not assigned elsewhere belong to the President,
by virtue of the Presidents executive power; while foreign affairs powers
specifically allocated elsewhere are not presidential powers, in spite of
the Presidents executive power. Third , The foregoing allocation
suggests the appropriate resolution of the debate over executive
agreements. 126 Since international agreements other than treaties are
contemplated by the Constitution but are not allocated to a particular
branch, they are part of the Presidents residual foreign affairs power.
This power, however, is limited in three respects. First, the Presidents power to
SolvencyEmbargo
Obama can lift the embargo-travel ban proves
Heuvel, is the editor, publisher, and part-owner of the
magazine The Nation, 6/13
(Katrina Vanden, is the editor, publisher, and part-owner of the magazine The
Nation6/2/13, The Washington Post, The US Should End the
Cuban Embargo, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-0702/opinions/40316090_1_embargo-limited-private-enterprise-odebrecht ,
Accessed: 7/5/13, LPS.)
This month, 100 state-run produce markets and 26 other establishments are
scheduled to become private cooperatives. The government says many more
establishments will follow, beginning in 2014, as an alternative to small and
medium-size state businesses in retail and food services, transportation, light
manufacturing and construction, among other sectors. Despite the embargo, Jos
Mart International Airport displays the new vitality. Hundreds of Cuban Americans
fly into see relatives, bringing everything from flat-screen TVs to consumer basics.
Since President Obama lifted restrictions on family visits in 2009,
remittances and material support from Cuban Americans play a growing
role in the microeconomy of the island . Whereas in the 1990s, Havana was
willing to permit only limited private enterprise as an emergency measure,
government officials now speculate openly about aiming toward 50 percent of
Cubas GDP in private hands within five years. Of course, an expanding small
business sector wont resolve some central issues facing the island:
access to large-scale credit and investment and the need to boost exports
and address anemic productivity, not to mention the demands of an aging
population. In Havana, there is more talk about Brazils investment in renovating
Mariel Harbor than about Edward Snowden. Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht had
to resist threats by Floridas state government to cut off any state contracts if it
invested in Cuba. This enormous deep-water port is designed to handle trade with
the United States and beyond in a post-embargo world, if the embargo is ever
ended. Cubas official media remains sclerotic, though there are spirited debates in
a few online outlets. But the government appears to understand that the
explosion of social media will transform communications and politics, and
however tentatively, realizes it has little choice but to change if it is to
engage a younger generation.
XO solves sanctions
Covington & Burling LLP 12
that knowingly engage in or facilitate any significant financial transaction with the National Iranian Oil Company
(NIOC) or Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO) and against any person, including any financial institution, that knowingly engages in significant transactions for the purchase of petroleum or petrochemical products from Iran.
These sanctions apply only if the President determines that global petroleum supplies are sufficient, and only to countries that have not received an NDAA exception. The Executive Order also authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury
to block the property of (and prohibit donations of food, clothing, and medicine to) persons found to have provided material technological or financial support for, or goods or services to, NIOC, NICO, or the Central Bank of Iran
(CBI), or to have assisted Iran in purchasing U.S. bank notes or precious metals.
SolvencyTerror State
Obama can denounce Cuba as a terror state
Heuvel, is the editor, publisher, and part-owner of the
magazine The Nation, 6/13
(Katrina Vanden, is the editor, publisher, and part-owner of the magazine The
Nation6/2/13, The Washington Post, The US Should End the
Cuban Embargo, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-0702/opinions/40316090_1_embargo-limited-private-enterprise-odebrecht ,
Accessed: 7/5/13, LPS.)
It is long past time for the United States to end the embargo and influence Cuba,
rather than threaten it. Ironically, as a result of a new Cuban migration law lifting
more than 50 years of restrictions on the ability of its citizens to travel freely
abroad, taking effect this year, Cubans are now freer to travel to the United States
than Americans are to Cuba. The president cant end the travel ban without
Congressional approval, but as Peter Kornbluhexplained in a recent piece in The
Nation, he can take several steps that would transform our policy. Obama
should start by removing Cuba from the State Departments list of nations
that support terrorism, terminating the economic and commercial
sanctions that come with that designation. The Treasury could stop fining
international banks for doing business with Cuba, a practice that impedes the
countrys slow opening to private enterprise. At the same time, the president could
expand licensing for travel to Cuba, making it easier for entrepreneurs, scientists,
doctors and others to travel and explore commercial possibilities. The Cold War
Cuban Democracy and Contingency Planning Program, designed for
regime change, should be reconfigured to a people-to-people exchange
program that would actually have some influence.
SolvencyEnergy
XOs coordinate energy development Alaska pipeline proves
AP, 2013
(Associated Press, 7-12-13, NOLA, Alaska energy development group created by
President Barack Obama,
http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/07/alaska_energy_development_grou.
html, accessed 7-9-13, EB)
President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed an executive order creating an
interagency working group to coordinate energy development in Alaska, a
move hailed by lawmakers who want to see drilling in Arctic outer continental shelf
waters. Interior Department Deputy Secretary David Hayes will chair the group.
Hayes said on the White House blog that the group will include senior officials
from the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Agriculture, Energy, Homeland
Security, the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the federal coordinator
for an Alaska natural gas pipeline. "We'll simplify decision-making
processes by making sure that we're doing our part to collaborate as we
evaluate permits and conduct rigorous environmental reviews," Hayes said.
"This means talking about schedules and progress; sharing application project
information, scientific and environmental data, and cultural and traditional
knowledge; and making sure that our decisions are based on the best information
available."
with China and India. While scientists for years have agreed that human factors
have contributed to shifts in global weather patterns, efforts to put policy changes
in place have been stonewalled by political deadlock. The presidents plan will
side-step Congress and issue an executive order to reduce carbon
emissions and prepare for the effects of climate change.
discredit the President have suggested that he is ruling by executive orders (EOs). However, President Obama has
bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on
together a few years ago. But
SolvencyGuantanamo
Executive actions solves
Clark, staff writer for MSNBC, 5-1
[Meredith, 2013, MSNBC, What Obama can do right now to close Guantanamo,
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/05/01/what-obama-can-do-right-now-to-closeguantanamo/, accessed 7-9-13, GSK]
President Obama has repeatedly complained, as he did again this week, that
Congress has made it all but impossible for him to carry out his four-yearold pledge to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But the
commander in chief is far from helpless when it comes to the fate of the 166
men still being held there. While bipartisan congressional opposition has been
staunch, the president has also taken numerous steps over the last several years
that have made it more difficult to send many detainees home. Now, as some 100
prisoners there are carrying out hunger strikes in protest, it is worth examining what
Obama chose to do and what he can still do on his own. Obama has twice issued
what became empty veto threats over legislation that affected his ability to move
some detainees out of Guantanamo. The first was in 2012 when he signed the
National Defense Authorization Act which included provisions blocking the transfer
of detainees to either U.S. prisons or foreign countries. He renewed that threat over
similar objections to the 2013 act, saying in a statement that such restrictions
have limited the executives ability to manage military operations in an ongoing
armed conflict, harmed the countrys diplomatic relations with allies and counterterrorism partners, and provided no benefit whatsoever to our national security.
But he again signed the new bill. Though Obama issued an executive order to
close Guantanamo on his second day in office, he has not named any
official to oversee that effort full-time. A State Department position
responsible for arranging detainee transfers has been empty since
January. There are currently 30 prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay that have been
cleared for transfer for whom the process could begin. Among them are three
Uighur detainees who need a country willing to let them resettle there, and 27
other, non-Yemeni detainees that await repatriation. Despite some restrictions, the
National Defense Authorization Act gives authority, and has since 2012, to
the president to resume prisoner transfers without congressional approval
through a National Security Waiver. Under this provision, the secretary of
defense can approve a transfer if he, in consultation with the secretary of
state and the director of national intelligence, determines that adequate
steps are being taken to substantially mitigate the potential risk that a
former prisoner might engage in future acts of terrorism once home. Yet
Obamas national security team hasnt granted a single waiver.
(Reuters) - With his renewed vow to close the detention camp for foreign
terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, President Barack Obama has effectively
assigned himself a list of possible ways to take the prison's population
down from 166 to zero. Some would be more easily achieved than others. In
pledging to look again at an unfulfilled promise dating back to his first election
campaign and early days in office in 2009, Obama made plain on Tuesday that it
was untenable to keep the 11-year-old camp open. A hunger strike at the camp at
the U.S. Naval Base on Cuba began in February, has been joined by 100 of the
inmates and has led to force-feedings to keep the weakest prisoners alive, sparking
fresh outrage from rights groups over a prison opened under Republican President
George W. Bush in 2002. There were about 245 prisoners at Guantanamo when
Obama, a Democrat, took office in 2009 and that has dropped to 166. But releases
have slowed to a trickle under restrictions imposed by Congress, including a ban on
any of them being brought to the United States. No prisoners have left Guantanamo
this year. Among current inmates, nine have been charged with crimes or
convicted, 24 are considered eligible for possible prosecution, 47 are considered too
dangerous for release but are not facing prosecution, and 86 have been cleared for
transfer or release. Obama has several options, although it could take a
combination of several to clear the camp. PUT SOMEBODY IN CHARGE In
January, the State Department reassigned the special envoy who had been
in charge of trying to persuade countries to take Guantanamo inmates
approved for release, Daniel Fried, and did not replace him. That was widely seen
as a signal that Obama was giving up on closing the prison any time soon. Fried
arranged for the transfer out of scores of prisoners, but the departures
slowed to a crawl after Congress imposed restrictions on them. White House
spokesman Jay Carney said on Wednesday the administration was considering
naming a senior diplomat to renew the focus on repatriation or transferring
detainees. Christopher Anders, the senior legislative counsel for the American Civil
Liberties Union, said such a "point person" was sorely needed as a first step to
manage the administration's effort - but that the person should be from the White
House. "For the last three years at the White House, it's been like no one home" on
Guantanamo, he said. USE EXCEPTIONS IN LAW TO LET PRISONERS GO
Obama has blamed Congress for interfering with his plan to close Guantanamo.
Starting in 2011, Congress began restricting transfers out, saying the
Defense Department first had to certify a number of things, including that
the destination country was not a state sponsor of terrorism and would
take action to make sure the individual would not threaten the United
States. Starting last year, Congress let some restrictions be waived if it was
in the "national security interests" of the United States. Obama has not
used the waiver or certification provisions. "For the past two years, our
committee has worked with our Senate counterparts to ensure that the
certifications necessary to transfer detainees overseas are reasonable. The
administration has never certified a single transfer," House Armed Services
Committee Chairman Howard McKeon, a Republican, said this week. The White
House could have pushed harder for officials at the Pentagon to process
certifications, said the ACLU's Anders. Wells Dixon, a senior attorney at the Center
for Constitutional Rights, a New York organization that has represented a number of
Guantanamo prisoners, said Obama could order the Pentagon to begin
certifying transfers out. But he also noted potential risks for the president.
"There's no political upside" if Obama certifies that a prisoner can leave and then
that prisoner later attacks U.S. interests, Dixon said. SEND PRISONERS BACK TO
YEMEN Congress has prohibited the transfer of detainees to countries with
troubled security situations. But the United States could decide that new
Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour has taken adequate measures against
al Qaeda and made the country stable enough to resume repatriations to
Yemen. Repatriations were halted in 2010 after a man trained by militants in Yemen
tried to blow up a U.S.-bound plane in 2009. Of the 86 prisoners cleared for transfer
or release, 56 are Yemenis. The Yemeni government says it wants them home
and is building a facility to hold them for rehabilitation. That option also has a
potential danger - if a repatriated Yemeni eventually attacked the United States or
its interests. USE THE PERIODIC REVIEW BOARD PROCESS Two years ago,
Obama signed an executive order establishing extra review procedures for
Guantanamo detainees to determine if continued detention were
warranted, but the Periodic Review Boards have not been used. This option
looks fairly simple, since it involves carrying out the president's own
executive order. But there may have been no rush to establish more reviews
boards since prisoners cleared by earlier review boards are still being held. USE
COURT RULINGS TO GET PEOPLE OUT Dixon suggested the administration could
use court rulings to help get prisoners released. Two members of China's Muslim
Uighur minority were resettled in El Salvador in April 2012, four years after a U.S.
District Court in Washington ruled there were no grounds to hold them. When
prisoners challenge their detention in federal court, the government could
decide not to contest the case, paving the way for a court order effecting
the prisoner's release, said Dixon. He said that could happen in any of the more
than 100 detainee "habeus corpus" cases filed in federal court. Obama could
instruct the Justice Department to stop contesting those cases.
And in doing so, he must also order the military to improve conditions of
confinement at the prison so that they are consistent with Common Article 3 of the
Geneva Conventions and international human rights law. These actions are the
only way that the government can end the ongoing hunger strike and staunch the
frustration and hopelessness that has driven the detainees to starve themselves as
a last resort for their freedom. III. Specific Steps to Close the Prison First,
President Obama must immediately instruct the Secretary of Defense to
consider a slate of detainees for transfer pursuant to the certification and
waiver process created by Congress under the NDAA. Transfers can occur
pursuant to agreements with home countries or third countries, like those
successfully negotiated in 2009 and 2010 which resulted in the repatriation and
resettlement of more than 70 men. As Senator Carl Levin recently pointed out in a
letter to President Obama, the national security waiver provides a clear
route for transfers to occur. Second, in conjunction with the resumption
of transfers of cleared men, the President must lift his self-imposed ban
on repatriations to Yemen. As 89 of the remaining 166 detainees are from
Yemen, including 56 who are approved for transfer, Guantnamo is devolving into a
prison for Yemenis. Many of these men want to go home, but languish at
Guantanamo because of a moratorium on repatriations to Yemen imposed by
President Obama himself. The UNs top human rights experts recently condemned
the moratorium as a clear violation of the fundamental principle of nondiscrimination based national origin. President Obama can unilaterally lift his
self-imposed ban. He should do so immediately and ensure that case-bycase
determinations about the transfers of individual Yemenis proceed swiftly. These men
should not continue to be punished collectively on the basis of their national
origin. There are several obvious candidates for immediate certification or waiver
consideration, including cleared detainees like Algerian Djamel Ameziane, who has
viable resettlement opportunities, and Yemeni Mohammed Al Hamiri, whose family
lives in Saudi Arabia. Blocks of cleared detainees might also be repatriated to
countries like Tunisia, which have developed reintegration programs. Third, in
cases where NDAA certifications or waivers are not possible, as in the case
of transfers to Sudan, or where they may not be feasible for other reasons, the
President should direct the Department of Justice to negotiate the
settlement of detainee habeas cases. These settlements may include
court-approved stipulations that particular detainees should be
transferred to particular countries, or uncontested court orders of release,
which would be exempt from the NDAA transfer restrictions. Fourth, while the
President alone bears ultimate responsibility for ensuring he does not fail a second
time to meet his promise to shutter Guantnamo, he must appoint a senior
government official to spearhead that effort. That official must have
stature and be vested with authority directly from the White House to carry
out the Presidents mandate to close the prison, including by resolving
interagency disputes regarding the transfer of detainees. There has been no such
individual in the White House for years. Moreover, the State Department office
tasked with negotiating with other countries for resettlement and repatriation of
detainees, which closed in 2012 despite successfully transferring dozens of men,
must be reopened to facilitate the White House officials efforts to shutter the
prison. Fifth, the President should transfer the detainees currently
designated for indefinite detention if he does not intend to prosecute
them for criminal offenses. There are currently 46 individuals whom the
Administration has stated it does not intend to charge, but are considered too
dangerous to release, and consequently are languishing in Guantnamo. But under
the laws of war, civilians captured during the course of an armed conflict can only
be interned for so long as they pose an imperative security threat, and they must
be afforded fair and meaningful periodic reviews to determine whether they remain
a threat. Otherwise, they must be charged or released. The Administrations middle
ground which since 2009 has been to do nothing while holding these men
indefinitely has no support in international law. The Administration must fairly
try or release the individuals it does not plan to charge. As President Obama
himself stated on April 30, it is unsustainable to continue holding people in
perpetuity who have already been detained without charge for over eleven years,
particularly as the United States begins winding down in Afghanistan and talks of
defeating Al Qaeda. Short of rapidly processing their transfers, these men
must be afforded at a minimum fair and meaningful hearings before
Periodic Review Boards, which the President ordered to be conducted
more than a year ago but have not even begun. In 2011, the President issued an
Executive Order providing for the administrative review within one year of men
whom the Administration has deemed too dangerous for release or slated for
prosecution. Two years later, such reviews have yet to begin. If the President does
intend to convene review boards, they should begin immediately. And if they are to
have any semblance of credibility, counsel for the detainees and the detainees
themselves must be afforded reasonable notice and opportunity to participate in
the review boards, must be allowed to appear before the review boards in person,
and must have access to all the government information being used to assess the
individuals detention status. Moreover, information obtained through torture must
be excluded; and the boards must have the power to effect immediate release
from Guantnamo. Sixth, the President should abandon all military
commission prosecution. He should transfer to the United States any
detainee who has committed a crime, and should afford those individuals
fair trials in federal court. In order to achieve this, he must veto any legislation
that attempts to renew the ban on transfers to the United States contained in the
NDAA.
[Eric, 5/3/13, Slate, President Obama Can Shut Guantanamo Whenever He Wants,
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2013/05/preside
nt_obama_can_shut_guantanamo_whenever_he_wants_to.html, Accessed: 7/9/13,
PR]
The relevant law is the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012
(NDAA). This statute confirms the presidents power to wage war against
al-Qaida and its associates, which was initially given to him in the
Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed shortly after 9/11. The NDAA also
authorizes the president to detain enemy combatants, and bans him from transferring Guantanamo detainees to
where about 90 of the 166 detainees are from, cant guarantee that they will maintain control over detainees, as
required by the law.ere is another section of the NDAA, however, which has been overlooked. In section 1021(a),
Congress affirms the authority of the U.S. armed forces under the AUMF to detain members of al-Qaida and
affiliated groups pending disposition under the law of war. Section 1021(c)(1) further provides that disposition
under the law of war includes Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities
with al-Qaida at an end. The groups original core is essentially gone. A Department of Defense official recently
hinted that the end of the conflict with al-Qaida is approaching, while the troop drawdown in Afghanistan will be
completed next year. Associates and fellow travelers continue to exist, but the president is free to end hostilities
even so; this, too, has happened many times before, like in Korea and Vietnam.
young illegal immigrants when Congress wouldnt agree. He ordered the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence, which Congress halted
nearly 15 years ago. He told the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense
of Marriage Act, deciding that the 1996 law defining marriage as between a man
and a woman was unconstitutional. Hes vowed to act on his own if Congress didnt
pass policies to prepare for climate change. Arguably more than any other
president in modern history, hes using executive actions, primarily
orders, to bypass or pressure a Congress where the opposition
Republicans can block any proposal. Its gridlocked and dysfunctional.
The place is a mess, said Rena Steinzor, a law professor at the University
of Maryland. I think (executive action) is an inevitable tool given whats
happened. Now that Obama has showed a willingness to use those
tactics, advocacy groups, supporters and even members of Congress are
lobbying him to do so more and more.
SolvencyTravel Bans
The Executive has the power to issue passports
Prakash and Ramsey, University of San Diego School of Law,
2001 (Saikrishna B and Michael D, The Executive Power over Foreign Affairs,
Warming
Executive Power is key to pragmatic climate action
Presidential Climate Action Project, 8
[2008, Climate Action Brief: The Use of Presidential Power,
http://www.climateactionproject.com/docs/briefs/Climate_Brief_Presidential_Power.p
df, Accessed 7/7/13, CB]
The President will have many traditional tools at his or her disposal,
including executive orders,
directives, proclamations, signing statements, national security directives,
executive communications
with Congress, the ability to call Congress into special session, the veto, the
execution of treaties and
the creation of executive agreements, a type of international agreement that falls
short of a formal
treaty and does not require Senate ratification. And, of course, the President has the
bully pulpit.
In regard to climate change, the next administrations authority includes
the power to:
Regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act;
Institute a carbon cap-and-trade regime as EPA did for SO2 and NOx in
1995;
Propose and champion national goals for energy efficiency, renewable
energy use, greenhouse
gas reductions and other critical objectives;
Enter into executive agreements to collaborate with other nations on
research and policies that
will reduce energy vulnerability and greenhouse gas emissions;
Restore the federal governments capacity for climate action by
appointing highly qualified
experts in climate science and policy to key government leadership positions;
Rescind Executive Order 13422, in which President Bush established
political oversight of
federal science;
Restore specific greenhouse gas reduction goals for federal agencies,
which were eliminated in another executive order issued by President Bush.
But like FDR, the next President may need new powers to deal with climate change and the other urgent issues. As the Center for Energy and Environmental Security notes, One of the
key actions to be taken by a future president to address climate change policy would be to work with Congress for the appropriate and necessary delegations of authority that will give
him or her the power to act with flexibility, without delay and with certainty within the framework of the Constitution. As in FDRs era, the 44th President will be most able to lead boldly
on climate change when there is a clear mandate from the voters that the time has come for strong national action. As University of Chicago Professor William Howell has noted, Not
once in the modern era have the courts overturned a president who enjoys broad-based support from Congress, interest groups and the public.
Creating that mandate for strong but legitimate use of presidential power is one of the key
responsibilities facing the presidential candidates in this election season and one of the key
challenges for the many organizations working to build grassroots support for climate action.
President Obama had barely announced his new climate strategy late last
month when the criticism began. The plan, which will regulate carbon
pollution from the nation's power plants for the first time, is an important
step in addressing global warming. Republican reaction in Congress was
predictably scathing. And while most green groups praised the proposal, some environmentalists were frustrated, calling it "too little, too late" or "not
nearly enough."
Are they right?
The plan could have been bolder, but only if the administration took bigger political and legal risks. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency might have set a national air
quality standard for carbon dioxide, as it has done for conventional pollutants such as smog and soot, and required the states to issue implementation plans for how they would comply.
The EPA has authority under the Clean Air Act to do this, and it would have amounted to an economy-wide program for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, potentially yielding much
bigger cuts than the president's plan.
But the EPA has consistently rejected this approach, on grounds that it could take more than a decade to implement, would enrage many states and would risk a backlash in Congress.
Critics say that this approach is appropriate for ground-level pollution that states can more easily control but not for greenhouse gas concentrations, which are the result of global
emissions that the states alone cannot change.
The agency could also make a difference without setting a national standard for CO2 by using a little-know provision of the Clean Air Act that addresses international air pollution. If
the EPA finds, either on its own or at the request of the State Department, that U.S. emissions contribute to pollution that may "endanger" other nations, it must direct states to revise
their pollution plans to prevent the endangerment.
Roger Martella, the EPA's general counsel in the George W. Bush administration, has called this strategy "the most effective, flexible, economically reasonable and legally supportable
means by which to regulate greenhouse gas emissions." And an NYU think tank has petitioned the EPA to use it.
So far the administration seems to consider this untried provision too risky, perhaps worrying that it would provoke Congress to block individual EPA regulations or, worse yet, amend the
Clean Air Act to deny the agency authority over greenhouse gases.
Heg
The Counterplan is key to solve heg- Coalitions, Values, and
interventions
Atlanta Journal and Constitution 2K
[Bob Deans, Cox Washington Bureau, January 23rd 2000, The
Atlanta Journal and Constitution, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY:
White House power growing, lexis, Accessed 7/7/13, CB]
Yet the U.S. presidency, long regarded as the most powerful institution in
the world, arguably has assumed more authority and reach than at any
time in its history.
While no one can doubt the growing impact of the Internet, Silicon Valley and Wall
Street on the daily lives of all Americans, only the president can rally truly
global resources around American ideals to further the quest for equality
and to combat the timeless ills of poverty and war.
It is that unique ability to build and harness a worldwide consensus that is
widening the circle of presidential power.
''The presidency will remain as important as it is or will become more important,'' predicted presidential scholar Michael Nelson, professor of political science at Rhodes College
in Memphis, Tenn.
The voice of all Americans
The taproot of presidential power is the Constitution, which designates the chief executive, the only official elected in a national vote, as the sole representative of all the American
people.
That conferred authority reflects the state of the nation, and it would be hard to argue that any country in history has possessed the military, economic and political
pre-eminence that this country now holds.
And yet, the nation's greatest strength as a global power lies in its ability to build an international consensus around values and interests important to most
Americans.
On Clinton's watch, that ability has been almost constantly on display as he has patched together multinational responses to war in the Balkans, despotism in Haiti, economic crises in
Mexico, Russia, Indonesia and South Korea, and natural disasters in Turkey and Venezuela.
has patched together multinational responses to war in the Balkans, despotism in Haiti, economic crises in Mexico, Russia, Indonesia
institutions, negotiates the treaties that bind them and delivers the public and private counsel that helps guide them, leaving the
indelible imprint of American priorities on every major initiative they undertake. ''That means, for example, that we can advance our
interests in resolving ethnic conflicts, in helping address the problems of AIDS in Africa, of contributing to the world's economic
development, of promoting human rights, '' Governing magazine. ''It's the president who is capable of making deals with global
institutions.''
Terrorism
Presidential Power Solves Terrorism
Newsweek, 9
[Stuart Taylor Jr., Staff Writer, January 9th 2009, Obamas
Cheney Dilemma,
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/01/09/obama-s-cheneydilemma.html, Accessed 7/7/13, CB]
In times of war and crisis, as presidents such as Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt
discovered, the nation needs a strong chief executive. The flaw of the BushCheney administration may have been less in what it did than in the way it
did itflaunting executive power, ignoring Congress, showing scorn for anyone
who waved the banner of civil liberties. Arguably, there has been an
overreaction to the alleged arrogance and heedlessness of Bush and
Cheneyespecially Cheney, who almost seemed to take a grim satisfaction in his
Darth Vader-esque image. The courts, at first slow to respond to arrogations of
executive power after September 11, have pushed back. Many federal officials have
grown risk-averse, fearing that they will be prosecuted or dragged before a
congressional committee for fighting too hard against terrorism. (A growing number
of CIA officials buy insurance policies to cover legal fees.)
Obama, who has been receiving intelligence briefings for weeks, already
knows what a scary world it is out there. It is unlikely he will wildly
overcorrect for the Bush administration's abuses. A very senior incoming
official, who refused to be quoted discussing internal policy debates, indicated that
the new administration will try to find a middle road that will protect civil liberties
without leaving the nation defenseless. But Obama's team has some strong critics
of the old order, including his choice for director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, who has
spoken out strongly against coercive interrogation methods.
In Obama's spirit of nonpartisanship, the new crowd would do well to
listen to Jack Goldsmith, formerly a Bush Justice Department official, now a
Harvard Law School professor. At Justice, Goldsmith was the head of an obscure but
critically important unit called the Office of Legal Counsel. OLC acts as a kind of
lawyer for the executive branch, offering opinionsclose to bindingon what the
executive branch can and cannot do. It was an OLC lawyer, John Yoo, who in
2001 and 2002 drafted many of the memos that first gave the Cheneyites
permission to do pretty much whatever they wanted in the way of interrogating and
detaining suspected terrorists (and eavesdropping on Americans to catch terrorists).
Goldsmith, who became head of OLC in 2003, quietly began to revoke some of
these permissions as illegal or unconstitutional. The revolt of Goldsmith and some
other principled Justice lawyers was a heroic story, kept secret at the time. Now
Goldsmith worries about the pendulum swinging too far, as it often does in
American democracy. "The presidency has already been diminished in
ways that would be hard to reverse" and may be losing its capability to
fight terrorism, he says. He argues that Americans should now be "less
worried about an out-of-control presidency than an enfeebled one."
senior incoming official, who refused to be quoted discussing internal policy debates, indicated that the new
administration will try to find a middle road that will protect civil liberties without leaving the nation
defenseless. But Obama's team has some strong critics of the old order, including his choice for director of the
In Obama's
spirit of nonpartisanship, the new crowd would do well to listen to Jack
Goldsmith, formerly a Bush Justice Department official, now a Harvard Law School professor. At
Justice, Goldsmith was the head of an obscure but critically important unit called the
Office of Legal Counsel. OLC acts as a kind of lawyer for the executive branch, offering
opinionsclose to bindingon what the executive branch can and
cannot do. It was an OLC lawyer, John Yoo, who in 2001 and 2002 drafted many of the memos that first
CIA, Leon Panetta, who has spoken out strongly against coercive interrogation methods.
gave the Cheneyites permission to do pretty much whatever they wanted in the way of interrogating and
detaining suspected terrorists (and eavesdropping on Americans to catch terrorists). Goldsmith, who became
head of OLC in 2003, quietly began to revoke some of these permissions as illegal or unconstitutional. The
revolt of Goldsmith and some other principled Justice lawyers was a heroic story, kept secret at the time. Now
Goldsmith worries about the pendulum swinging too far, as it often does in American democracy. "The
presidency has already been diminished in ways that would be hard to reverse" and may be losing its
capability to fight terrorism, he says. He argues that Americans should now be "less worried about an out-ofcontrol presidency than an enfeebled one."
Econ/ME Conflict
A strong president is key to solve Middle East conflict as well
as help the global economy
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong Newspaper, 2000
(12/11/2000, Position of Weakness, LexisNexis, 7/7/13, ND)
A weak president with an unclear mandate is bad news for the rest of the world. For
better or worse, the person who rules the United States influences events far beyond
the shores of his own country. Both the global economy and international politics will feel
the effect of political instability in the US. The first impact will be on American financial markets,
which will have a ripple effect on markets and growth across the world. A
weakened US presidency will also be felt in global hotspots across the world. The
Middle East, the conflict between India and Pakistan, peace on the Korean
peninsula, and even the way relations between China and Taiwan play out,
will be influenced by the authority the next US president brings to his job.
There are those who would welcome a weakening of US global influence. Many Palestinians, for example, feel they
would benefit from a less interventionist American policy in the Middle East. Even within the Western alliance, there
are those who would probably see opportunities in a weakened US presidency. France, for example, might feel that
Wars
Strong presidential powers are critical to the global economy
and preventing global wars
South China Morning Post 2K
[Editorial, December 11th 2000, South China Morning Post, Position of weakness,
lexis, Accessed 7/7/13, CB]
The rest of the world is right to feel a twinge of alarm at the incredible
twists the US presidential race is continuing to take. The US Supreme Court
decision staying a Florida Supreme Court order to recount 43,000 votes in that state
has raised fears of a deadlock which if taken to its logical conclusion would leave it
to the incoming US Congress to vote in either Mr Bush or Mr Gore. Congress itself is
as divided as the nation - the Senate is split 50-50 between the Democrats and the
Republicans, while the Republicans enjoy a narrow majority in the House of
Representatives.
A weak president with an unclear mandate is bad news for the rest of the
world. For better or worse, the person who rules the United States
influences events far beyond the shores of his own country. Both the
global economy and international politics will feel the effect of political
instability in the US. The first impact will be on American financial
markets, which will have a ripple effect on markets and growth across the
world. A weakened US presidency will also be felt in global hotspots
across the world. The Middle East, the conflict between India and
Pakistan, peace on the Korean peninsula, and even the way relations
between China and Taiwan play out, will be influenced by the authority the
next US president brings to his job.
There are those who would welcome a weakening of US global influence. Many
Palestinians, for example, feel they would benefit from a less interventionist
American policy in the Middle East. Even within the Western alliance, there are
those who would probably see opportunities in a weakened US presidency. France,
for example, might feel that a less assertive US might force the European Union to
be more outward looking.
But the dangers of having a weak, insecure US presidency outweigh any
benefits that it might bring. US global economic and military power cannot
be wished away. A president with a shaky mandate will still command
great power and influence, only he will be constrained by his domestic
weakness and less certain about how to use his authority. This brings with
it the risks of miscalculation and the use of US power in a way that
heightens conflict. There are very few conflicts in the world today which can be
solved without US influence. The rest of the world needs the United States to use its
power deftly and decisively. Unfortunately, as the election saga continues, it seems
increasingly unlikely that the next US president will be in a position to do so.