Advising the President [electronic resource] : Attorney General Robert H. Jackson and Franklin D. Roosevelt / William R. Casto.

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2018] (Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2015)

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"Advising the President tells the story of Attorney General Robert H. Jackson's advisory relationship with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, particularly with respect to matters of national security on the eve of World War II. Jackson was the US Solicitor General for two years (1938-1940) and US Attorney General for a little over one year (1940-1941) before serving as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court. He was involved in a number of important political and legal events in the twentieth century, including serving as the chief US prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials. In this book William Casto focuses on Jackson's role as a legal advisor to the president during a time of war, in which he often had to weigh in on highly controversial policies, including the use of wiretapping. Traditional legal theory assumes a disinterested application of the law, but the position of attorney general placed Jackson in a complex situation that did not conform to a simply dichotomy between lawful and unlawful. Jackson made a distinction in practice between his personal advice to the president and his public advocacy in support of the president's decisions. Casto's study of Jackson offers valuable lessons for attorney advisers today and sheds light on recent controversial episodes, such as Jay Bybee and John Yoo's infamous advice to President George W. Bush regarding the use of torture"-- Provided by publisher.

Books / Online

English

September 09, 2019

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Project Muse.