Walter Berns: Difference between revisions
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'''Walter Berns''' is a Resident Scholar at the [[American Enterprise Institute]] and professor emeritus at [[Georgetown University]], specializing in political philosophy and constitutional law. | '''Walter Berns''' is a Resident Scholar at the [[American Enterprise Institute]] and professor emeritus at [[Georgetown University]], specializing in political philosophy and constitutional law. He is a member of the [[Committee for the Present Danger]] and President of APCO Insight, international survey research firm. | ||
==Presidential authority against terrorism== | |||
[[ | He wrote on [[prerogative power]] and the [[unitary executive theory]] based on the theories of [[John Locke]], who wrote, in the ''Second Treatise on Government'', that while the legislature was the first power, "The law cannot "foresee" events, for example, nor can it act with dispatch or with the appropriate subtlety required when dealing with foreign powers. Nor, as we know very well indeed, can a legislative body preserve secrecy." Locke, in the same writing, continued that such events should be left to "the discretion of him who has the executive power." It is in this context that he first spoke of the "prerogative": the "power to act according to discretion, for the public good without the prescription of the law, and sometimes even against it." He concluded by saying "prerogative is nothing but the power of doing public good without a rule" (italics in the original).<ref name=WSJ2009-05-23>{{citation | ||
|date = 23 May 2009 | |date = 23 May 2009 | ||
| title = Interrogations and Presidential Prerogative: The Founders created an executive with substantial discretionary powers. | | title = Interrogations and Presidential Prerogative: The Founders created an executive with substantial discretionary powers. | ||
| journal = Wall Street Journal | author = [[Walter Berns]] | | journal = Wall Street Journal | author = [[Walter Berns]] | ||
| url =http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124303156131948507.html}}</ref> | | url =http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124303156131948507.html}}</ref> | ||
==Education== | |||
*Ph.D., M.A., University of Chicago | |||
*London School of Economics and Political Science | |||
*Reed College | |||
*B.S., University of Iowa | |||
==References== | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
Revision as of 03:19, 15 November 2009
Walter Berns is a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and professor emeritus at Georgetown University, specializing in political philosophy and constitutional law. He is a member of the Committee for the Present Danger and President of APCO Insight, international survey research firm.
Presidential authority against terrorism
He wrote on prerogative power and the unitary executive theory based on the theories of John Locke, who wrote, in the Second Treatise on Government, that while the legislature was the first power, "The law cannot "foresee" events, for example, nor can it act with dispatch or with the appropriate subtlety required when dealing with foreign powers. Nor, as we know very well indeed, can a legislative body preserve secrecy." Locke, in the same writing, continued that such events should be left to "the discretion of him who has the executive power." It is in this context that he first spoke of the "prerogative": the "power to act according to discretion, for the public good without the prescription of the law, and sometimes even against it." He concluded by saying "prerogative is nothing but the power of doing public good without a rule" (italics in the original).[1]
Education
- Ph.D., M.A., University of Chicago
- London School of Economics and Political Science
- Reed College
- B.S., University of Iowa
References
- ↑ Walter Berns (23 May 2009), "Interrogations and Presidential Prerogative: The Founders created an executive with substantial discretionary powers.", Wall Street Journal