Permanent State of Emergency: Unchecked Executive Power and the Demise of the Rule of Law Hardcover – May 5, 2017

The principles upon which the United States of America were founded seem to have become less binding in the last decade. Personal observation is imprecise and it's hard to reach a conclusion. This book takes on a core issue of the rule of law. The analysis is thorough and rigorous. The conclusion is astonishing.The book reviews the critical structural support for the rule of law in the United States. Detailed historical background shows how the rule of law has been compromised and restored in the past.It shows how the executive grasping for undue authority after the 9/11 attacks were not without precedent but still treacherous. This made the restraining role of the judiciary and the congress critically important.We then take a detailed look at the critical decisions made by the judiciary where they fail to defend the rule of law and non-derogable human rights.Judicial appointments of both Republican and Democratic presidents have been used to reinforce executive power and constrain judicial review. One of the key aspects of the problem is how both parties are participating. The partisan political discussion is failing us in a critical way.Illustrating the issue, we see the most powerful men in the world abusing their position to obtain meaningless "confessions" from impoverished but clearly innocent people bought from northern China and Afghanistan. The power differential and its abuse are striking. The utter futility is a bit shocking. Of course, the references are all available. Many of the events I recall. I remember being surprised at a few of Obama's decisions where he failed to reverse decisions of his predecessor. The hostile relationship he had with congress may have contributed to his inclination to hold on to executive power. But now the precedent set is far more powerful.There are several things I had not known or appreciated. There are extensive footnotes to back up the claims made. The book is dense. There are many legal terms that slowed me down and the material itself is very sobering. But a light version would be a bit nonsensical. In the end, this is a book that very much needed to be written.