Part II: Constitutional Failure Since 9/11

I. Introduction

Since September 11, 2001, presidents and their administrations have adopted theories of broad emergency presidential power to justify their claimed unilateral authority to conduct the nation’s foreign affairs without scrutinization from the legislative and judicial branches. However, in Part I, I demonstrated that theories of limited emergency presidential power prove to be the most persuasive. Here, in Part II, I construct and apply a framework to define constitutional success and failure to the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and President Donald Trump. The application of this framework indicates that the United States has experienced a degree of constitutional failure under the aforementioned presidencies.

II. Constitutional Failure Since September 11, 2001