Executive Authority and Terrorism

• Author: Jack Fruchtman
• Profession: Professor of Political Science and Director of the Program in Law and American Civilization at Towson University, Maryland
• Pages: 224-238

American Constitutional History: A Brief Introduction, First Edition. Jack Fruchtman.

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Executive Authority and Terrorism

Executive power expanded exponentially during the contemporary

republic, despite the outcome of the highly controversial 2000

presidential election when Democratic candidate Al Gore won the

majority of the popular vote, but lost the electoral vote. The contest

depended on the voting outcome in Florida, which led to lawsuits and

a Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore. The Court stopped the vote

recount, and the bare margin of victory in the electoral count went to

Republican George W. Bush, 277 to 266. The election marked the

fourth time in US history when a candidate with the second highest

popular vote won the presidency: 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000. The

affair damaged neither the presidency nor the Court’s stature, because

the focus quickly shifted to executive and military authority after the

September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States in New York

and Washington, DC.

Protecting America in an Era of Terrorism

The Constitution divides military power between Congress and the

president to ensure that neither one acts alone to take the nation into

war. Yet, presidents have sometimes acted alone or they have asked

Congress for vague “authorizations” to use military force. An autho-

rization passed in 2001 allowed President George W. Bush to send