The Atlas Society

The President now functions as the country’s most important lawmaker. The Constitution is specifically designed to prevent this. In this important video, Boston University law professor Gary Lawson discusses the decades-long undermining of the separation of powers. He emphasizes that it remains the most powerful structural device (apart from a well-armed citizenry) yet invented for reducing the risk of tyranny. (Given the renewed debate about presidential authority, we are re-posting this video from our summer Atlas Summit. )



Presidential Power and the Dangers of Delegation | The Atlas Society
The separation of powers remains the most powerful structural device (apart from a well-armed citizenry) yet invented for reducing the risk of tyranny.
atlassociety.org

Presidential Power And The Dangers Of Delegation

By The Atlas Society

Atlas Summit 2014 -- The United States Code is filled with collections of words that look and act like laws but in reality simply delegate authority to make law to executive and judicial agents. Prime examples include the most important major modern acts such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”), and the Troubled Assets Relief Program (“TARP”). The Constitution is specifically designed to prevent this kind of delegation of legislative authority, but for three quarters of a century presidents, Congress, and the Supreme Court have all acquiesced to permit it. As a result, the President, through supervision of administrative agencies, now functions as the country’s most important lawmaker.
The separation of powers remains the most powerful structural device (apart from a well-armed citizenry) yet invented for reducing the risk of tyranny.
Boston University law professor Gary Lawson (pictured above) explains that while there are plausible arguments in political science for why presidents will, in many circumstances, make “better” lawmakers than Congress, the long-term danger that legislative delegations pose to the separation of powers likely swamps any short-terms gains from “better” legislation. The separation of powers remains the most powerful structural device (apart from a well-armed citizenry) yet invented for reducing the risk of tyranny.



http://www.atlassociety.org/as/presi...ers-delegation