Law’s Detour: Justice Displaced in the Bush Administration

Peter Margulies

Published by New York University Press 2010

Law’s Detour

Justice Displaced in the Bush Administration

Peter Margulies

Volume 24 in the series Critical America

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814795590.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

From the Justice Department’s memos defending coerced interrogation to Alberto Gonzales’ firing of U.S. Attorneys who did not fit the Bush Administration’s political needs, Law’s Detour paints an alarming picture of the many detours that George W. Bush and his allies created to thwart transparency and undermine the rule of law after September 11, 2001. Pursuing those detours, Bush officials set up a law-free zone at Guantánamo, ordered massive immigration raids that separated families, and screened candidates for civil service jobs to ensure the hiring of “real Americans.”
While government needs flexibility to address genuine risks to national security—which certainly exist in the post-9/11 world—the Bush Administration’s use of detours distracted the government from urgent priorities, tarnished America’s reputation, and threatened voting and civil rights. In this comprehensive analysis of Bush officials’ efforts to stretch and strain the justice system, Peter Margulies canvasses the costs of the Administration’s many detours, from resisting accountability in the war on terrorism to thwarting economic and environmental regulation. Concise and full of compelling anecdotes, Law’s Detour maps these aberrations, surveys the damage done, and reaffirms the virtues of transparency and dialog that the Bush administration dismissed.

Author / Editor information

Margulies Peter :

Peter Margulies is a Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law.

Reviews

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse:
Margulies arrays the sordid history of the Bush Administration against the oft-overlooked structures of American government that protect us all as citizens. This analysis is important to any American interested in liberty or government

Mark Tushnet,Trial Magazine:
Margulies helps us to understand how policy, legal detours, professional norms, and secrecy interact in our democracy.

Thoroughly enjoyable and informative discussion

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 The Perfect Storm of Politics, Ideology, and Crisis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
2 Targeting Individuals and Groups Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
3 The Architecture of Impunity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
4 Centralizing Policy and Patronage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
5 Conspiracy’s Discontents Prevention and False Positives After September 11 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
6 Justice and Elections Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
7 Regulation of Business and the Flight from Accountability at Home and Abroad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
Afterword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;

eBook

Published: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 9780814759608