The Rhetorical Presidency Meets the Drone Presidency
New Rambler Review, 2015
9 Pages Posted: 30 Sep 2015 Last revised: 30 Oct 2015
Date Written: September 30, 2015
Abstract
This brief essay reflects on Kenneth Anderson and Benjamin Wittes's book "Speaking the Law: The Obama Administration's Addresses on National Security Law." It suggests that "Speaking the Law" overestimates the clarifying and constraining force of the executive branch's counterterrorism speeches, and that the legal policies they set out may be better understood not as a reticulated regulatory scheme, but rather on a common law model.
Keywords: national security law, international law, executive power, targeted killings, drones, detention, legal rhetoric
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