Jack L. Goldsmith

1. IntroductionPart I: Customary International Law 2. A Theory of Customary International Law3. Case StudiesPart II: Treaties 4. A Theory of International Agreements5. Human Rights6. International TradePart III: Rhetoric, Morality, and International Law 7. A Theory of International Rhetoric8. International Law and Moral Obligation9. Liberal Democracy and Cosmopolitan Duty10. Conclusion

Conventional wisdom holds that 9/11 sounded the death knell for presidential accountability. In fact, the opposite is true. The novel powers that our post-9/11 commanders in chief assumed--endless detentions, military commissions, state secrets, broad surveillance, and more--are the culmination of a two-century expansion of presidential authority. But these new powers have been met with thousands of barely visible legal and political constraints--enforced by congressional committees, government lawyers, courts, and the media--that have transformed our unprecedentedly powerful presidency into one that is also unprecedentedly accountable. These constraints are the key to understanding why Obama continued the Bush counterterrorism program, and in this light, the events of the last decade should be seen as a victory, not a failure, of American constitutional government. We have actually preserved the framers' original idea of a balanced constitution, despite the vast increase in presidential power made necessary by this age of permanent emergency.--Publisher description.

To meet the threat of a cyber attack, Jack Goldsmith imagines that sometime in the near future the government mandates the use of a government-coordinated intrusion-prevention system throughout the domestic network to monitor all communications, including private ones. Although such a program would be controversial, Goldsmith argues that massive government snooping in the network can be lawful and deemed consistent with the U.S. Constitution, including the Fourth Amendment, if proper and credible safeguards are put in place.--Publishers' website.

Tells the moving story of how Goldsmith reunited with the stepfather he'd disowned and then set out to unravel one of the 20th century's most persistent mysteries and his stepfather's role in it.