Unitary Executive and the Development of the Law-and-Order Presidency

• In Event: The Presidency and Unilateral Action

Abstract

Presidential scholars have written extensively about the many variables that impact presidential power, but less is known about what factors affect their power over the federal criminal justice system. This has left a significant gap in our understanding of one of the president’s central powers—their role as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. This book remedies this gap by leveraging contemporary and historical data—and uses a historical institutionalist framework—to argue that the president’s power over the criminal justice system has been shaped by presidents expanding its use of unitary power in the absence of congressional or state-level action.

Author

• Joshua L Miller, AOF