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Bush's Law: The Remaking of American Justice
In the aftermath of 9/11, President Bush and his top advisors declared that the struggle against terrorism would be nothing less than a war–a new kind of war that would require new tactics, new tools, and a new mind-set. Bush’s Law is the unprecedented account of how the Bush administration employed its “war on terror” to mask the most radical remaking of American justice in generations.
On orders from the highest levels of the administration, counterterrorism officials at the FBI, the NSA, and the CIA were asked to play roles they had never played before. But with that unprecedented power, administration officials butted up against–or disregarded altogether–the legal restrictions meant to safeguard Americans’ rights, as they gave legal sanction to covert programs and secret interrogation tactics, a swept up thousands of suspects in the drift net.
Eric Lichtblau, who has covered the Justice Department and national security issues for the duration of the Bush administration, details not only the development of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program–initiated by the vice president’s office in the weeks after 9/11–but also the intense pressure that the White House brought to bear on The New York Times to thwart his story on the program.
Bush’s Law is an unparalleled and authoritative investigative report on the hidden internal struggles over secret programs and policies that tore at the constitutional fabric of the country and, ultimately, brought down an attorney general.
On orders from the highest levels of the administration, counterterrorism officials at the FBI, the NSA, and the CIA were asked to play roles they had never played before. But with that unprecedented power, administration officials butted up against–or disregarded altogether–the legal restrictions meant to safeguard Americans’ rights, as they gave legal sanction to covert programs and secret interrogation tactics, a swept up thousands of suspects in the drift net.
Eric Lichtblau, who has covered the Justice Department and national security issues for the duration of the Bush administration, details not only the development of the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program–initiated by the vice president’s office in the weeks after 9/11–but also the intense pressure that the White House brought to bear on The New York Times to thwart his story on the program.
Bush’s Law is an unparalleled and authoritative investigative report on the hidden internal struggles over secret programs and policies that tore at the constitutional fabric of the country and, ultimately, brought down an attorney general.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 6, 2021
All of it’s interesting and a good balance to the Peter Baker book that had me feeling all friendly toward Bush (the first presidential history that didn’t make me like the guy less than when I started). I needed the reminder of all the crap they pulled. Also interesting, Mueller didn’t come off looking too great except for in the Comey-Ashcroft hospital bedside story.
I really enjoyed that he showed us how the NSA program came about from behind the scenes. I’m as interested in how journalism happens as I am in what the big story is. There’s so much you don’t know when you read a column in the paper. It always looks easy and you gotta know it wasn’t. This sure wasn’t. I liked the 1st person storytelling too, it made it feel personal and active.
Funny how I used to think that editors just edited articles for tightness and word choice and typos and punctuation. I’ve learned a lot about how media works by reading these political books.
The book is a super interesting mix of reporting what happened and reporting how the reporting on it happened.
I really enjoyed that he showed us how the NSA program came about from behind the scenes. I’m as interested in how journalism happens as I am in what the big story is. There’s so much you don’t know when you read a column in the paper. It always looks easy and you gotta know it wasn’t. This sure wasn’t. I liked the 1st person storytelling too, it made it feel personal and active.
Funny how I used to think that editors just edited articles for tightness and word choice and typos and punctuation. I’ve learned a lot about how media works by reading these political books.
The book is a super interesting mix of reporting what happened and reporting how the reporting on it happened.
May 12, 2013
Eric Lichtblau’s framing of the broader issues involving counterterrorism is rather limited. Indeed, his palette holds only two colors: black and white. On one side of his ledger is the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. On the other side is the Bush administration, and never the twain shall meet. Although he is fully aware of the unprecedented challenge posed to national security by the 9/11 attacks, and of the belief within the government that a follow-on attack was a near-certainty, Lichtblau declines to suggest what measures might have been appropriate in place of the ones he labors at every step to condemn as “over-the-top.” Cherry-picking facts, tossing in irrelevancies, and engaging in other underhanded methods of argumentation—one could adduce many examples of such methods—Lichtblau fails, all told, to sustain his indictment of the Bush presidency.
There is also a lot of self-inflating gush. Here is Lichtblau describing the epiphany he experienced at the “instant” in which he decided to enter “noble public service” and become a journalist: “There’s a moment in time when a fuse is lit, a passion born. The moment is powerful and pungent, and it carries with it the sight and sound and feel of possibilities both real and imagined; the ‘swish’ of ball hitting net for the first time as a clapping, bounding five-year-old dreams of becoming the next Michael Jordan; the red haze of a sunset bleeding into the greens of a forest on an aspiring artist’s debut canvas. . . .”
There is also a lot of self-inflating gush. Here is Lichtblau describing the epiphany he experienced at the “instant” in which he decided to enter “noble public service” and become a journalist: “There’s a moment in time when a fuse is lit, a passion born. The moment is powerful and pungent, and it carries with it the sight and sound and feel of possibilities both real and imagined; the ‘swish’ of ball hitting net for the first time as a clapping, bounding five-year-old dreams of becoming the next Michael Jordan; the red haze of a sunset bleeding into the greens of a forest on an aspiring artist’s debut canvas. . . .”
June 30, 2008
I need to take a break from these and read some mysteries. After hearing Philippe Sands on Fresh Air (great Jeremy Irons voice, which apparently John "it depends on what the meaning of 'implement' is" Yoo whined about when debating him; how dare he be eloquent?), decided to read his book, Terror Team, and this. Both really saddening and depressing; hard to say which is worse. This is about the 3 million civil-liberties violations the government rammed through after 9/11 (course idea: US Since 2001. We usually teach US Since 1945, since I think the idea was that we never really cover that period, but we sorta do now, at least until 1968), Lichtblau's breaking of the wiretapping and bank surveillance stories, and a lot of really interesting stuff about the interplay between government and newspaper--there was a heavy-duty lobbying campaign going on in the Bush administration wherein they brought out every heavy gun they could imagine to convince the Times not to run the stories. Maybe the most interesting part is a throwaway point about government leakers now, who apparently all want to be Deep Throat II (interesting that there hasn't been a single great name for a confidential source since then; somehow, as with "-gate" for any scandal, we never got past 1973) and thus come across with the gnomic "there's much more going on" comments, which are sort of helpful and sort of not.
April 12, 2008
This is not a comprehensive legal analysis of Bush's administration of law. It is a New York Times reporter's memoir of his experience reporting on the Justice Department with an emphasis on the Administration's surveillance programs. There are also chapters on the difficulties within the FBI and on Alberto Gonzalez (focusing primarily on the firing of the U.S. Attorneys).
Lichtblau, along with James Risen, did much of the Times' groundbreaking reporting on the Administration's warrantless surveillance programs, and those sections of the book are informative--both as to what they discovered the Administration was doing and some of the behind-the-scenes story of the reporting. Of particular interest is his discussion of the Times' difficulty in deciding whether to publish the stories and the Administration's essentially dishonest efforts to persuade them not to publish.
Because the parts of the book that are not about the surveillance programs are largely based on anecdotes, they don't really lend themselves to a systematic critique of the Administration policy. Nonetheless, this is a really interesting book--it does provide a good summary of those topics it does cover.
Lichtblau, along with James Risen, did much of the Times' groundbreaking reporting on the Administration's warrantless surveillance programs, and those sections of the book are informative--both as to what they discovered the Administration was doing and some of the behind-the-scenes story of the reporting. Of particular interest is his discussion of the Times' difficulty in deciding whether to publish the stories and the Administration's essentially dishonest efforts to persuade them not to publish.
Because the parts of the book that are not about the surveillance programs are largely based on anecdotes, they don't really lend themselves to a systematic critique of the Administration policy. Nonetheless, this is a really interesting book--it does provide a good summary of those topics it does cover.
July 9, 2008
Lichtblau has written a surprisingly up to date review of a host of issues from Ashcroft through FISA and Gonzales to rendition, torture, wiretapping and of course, the firing of Federal prosecutors. I was most interested in Lichtblau's sympathetic portraits of people like John Yoo and Alberto Gonzales.
September 30, 2008
I believe that this is a very important book. Our current administration seems to have forgotten that we are a nation of laws, not of men. Flagrant violations of our national laws and values are well documented in this book. That being said, I'm suffering from rage fatigue and it only gets 3 stars.
July 22, 2013
Much better than I expected. Short and to the point written from a reporters' perspective. Amazing some of things that went on, especially in the Justice Department, and a good description of the balancing test newspapers do in deciding whether to publish stories on national security. Only complaint is that I wanted it to be longer and more detailed in some areas.
June 2, 2008
great companion read for Jack Goldsmith's "Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration"--
get the rest of the story with this NY Times journalist's memoir of reporting on the Bush Presidency.
get the rest of the story with this NY Times journalist's memoir of reporting on the Bush Presidency.
October 3, 2008
The broad outline of the story -- and many of the particular facts -- were familiar to me, having kept up on the news these last 8 years. But some of the particulars were astonishing (and terrifying!), and the author tells a great story. One of those books that I couldn't put down.
October 24, 2012
How Bush and his people gutted the Justice Department and the legal protections of the constitution.How competent people were thrown out of the Bush administration. How decisions were made without any regard for facts or reality. How the idiots won.
Why it really matters who we elect as president.
Why it really matters who we elect as president.
August 13, 2008
A well written account of the extent of the Bush administrations illegal wiretapping, the pressure to keep it from being published in the New York Times, and how the rule of law is being undermined.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews