The Dismantling of the Rule of Law in the United States: Systematisation of Executive Impunity, Dispensation from Non-derogable Norms, and Perpetualisation of a Permanent State of Emergency by Ryan Patrick Alford submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LAWS at the University of South Africa Supervisor: Jeremy Sarkin June 2014 Student number: 49958801 I declare that The Dismantling of the Rule of Law in the United States: Systematisation of Executive Impunity, Dispensation from Non-derogable Norms, and Perpetualisation of a Permanent State of Emergency is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. ________________________ ___________________ SIGNATURE DATE (Mr) Ryan Patrick Alford 7 June 2014 ABSTRACT Scholars of human rights and constitutional law have described in great detail the abuses perpetrated by the armed forces and secret services of the United States in the context of the ‘war on terror’. There is copious literature explaining why these violations of fundamental human rights are not justifiable, and why they are not consistent with international treaties or that nation’s constitution. This thesis builds upon this research, but strikes out in a new direction. It does so by asking whether these abuses, combined with the changes to the legal order of the United States that made them possible, have produced a qualitative transformation of its constitutional structure. In particular, this thesis tracks the empowering of the executive. Increasingly, whenever it purports to act in the interests of national security, the executive claims the authority to act unilaterally in a manner that overrides even non-derogable rights. These novel constitutional reserve powers, which this thesis demonstrates were derived from President Nixon’s theory of the executive, were used to justify indefinite arbitrary detention, torture, mass surveillance without warrants, and extra-judicial execution. This thesis seeks to determine if the constitutional crisis inaugurated by this theory of executive supremacy over the laws has been terminated, or whether it has continued into the Obama Administration. If this theory is current within the executive branch, and especially if the violations of jus cogens norms has continued, it signifies a cross-party consensus about a paradigm shift in American constitutionalism. Accordingly, given the fact that the abuse of executive supremacy is what led to the development of the rule of law, this thesis will ask the question of whether the United States is being governed in accordance with its basic minimum norms. This thesis explores whether the executive is still subject to checks and balances from the legislature and the judiciary, such that it cannot violate non-derogable rights at will and with impunity. If the contrary proposition is true, it demonstrates that the crisis of the rule of law in the United States is ongoing, and this permanent state of exception demands significantly more scholarly attention. ii Table of Contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ II CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 1 INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................ 1 2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................................ 10 3 AIMS OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................................ 10 4 STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY .................................................................................................. 11 5 IS A GLOBAL ‘YARDSTICK’ POSSIBLE? ............................................................................... 16 5.1 RULE OF LAW: A CONSTITUTIONAL CONCEPT SHAPED BY HISTORY ............................... 17 5.2 THE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN PRE-HISTORY OF RULE OF LAW ........................... 18 5.3 THE PRE-HISTORY OF RULE OF LAW AND ITS ONGOING INFLUENCE ................................ 22 5.4 THE RIGHTS PROTECTED BY CORE OF THE RULE OF LAW .................................................... 26 5.5 JURISPRUDENTIAL DEBATES ABOUT RULE OF LAW CONFIRM ITS CORE ......................... 29 5.6 RULE OF LAW APPLIES TO MATTERS INVOLVING ‘NATIONAL SECURITY’ ...................... 34 6 THE ICJ’S DEVELOPMENT OF A ‘YARDSTICK’ ................................................................. 36 6.1 THE ICJ’S PROHIBITION ON THE EXECUTIVE LEGISLATING ................................................. 37 6.2 THE REQUIREMENT OF JUDICIAL REVIEW OF EXECUTIVE ACTION ................................... 38 6.3 THE ICJ ON THE LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT DURING AN EMERGENCY .............................. 42 7 SEPARATION OF POWERS AS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RULE OF LAW .......................... 43 8 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................ 47 CHAPTER 2 .......................................................................................................................... 49 THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE RULE OF LAW IN THE UNITED STATES .................................................................................................................................. 49 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 49 1.1 THE RESILIENCY OF THE RULE OF LAW FROM 1787 TO 1940................................................. 50 2 THE COLD WAR PRESIDENCY AND THE RULE OF LAW .................................................. 57 2.1 FROM HOT WAR TO COLD: NEW CHALLENGES TO THE RULE OF LAW .............................. 66 3 THE BATTLE OVER AN UNACCOUNTABLE PRESIDENCY .............................................. 76 3.1 RESTRAINING EXECUTIVE WAR-MAKING: THE WPR .............................................................. 79 3.2 CONGRESS’ RESPONSE TO DISTORTIONS OF THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS ....................... 83 3.3 NIXON’S TRUMP CARD: CONTROL OVER THE INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES ......................... 87 3.4 NIXON’S RESIGNATION AS RESTORATION OF THE RULE OF LAW ...................................... 93 4 REIMPLEMENTATION OF THE RULE OF LAW 1974-80 ...................................................... 94 iii 4.1 ESTABLISHING CLEAR STATUTORY LIMITS ON EXECUTIVE DISCRETION ....................... 98 5 THE CHURCH COMMITTEE’S CALL TO ACTION .............................................................. 102 5.1 THE COMMITTEE’S OUTLINE OF STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS ............... 103 6 REFORMING THE CIA, THE NSA, AND THE FBI ................................................................ 105 7 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................... 107 CHAPTER 3 ........................................................................................................................ 109 OVERBROAD AUTHORITY GIVEN TO AND APPROPRIATED BY THE EXECUTIVE AFTER THE 9/11 ATTACKS ................................................................... 109 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 109 2 EXECUTIVE RESISTANCE TO THE NEW RULE OF LAW ................................................ 111 2.1 CHENEY’S MINORITY REPORT ON IRAN-CONTRA AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE ...................... 113 2.2 PNAC’S BLUEPRINT FOR EXECUTIVE SUPREMACY IN FOREIGN POLICY ....................... 118 3 IMPETUS FOR EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY AFTER 9/11 ...................................................... 119 3.1 THE AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST TERRORISTS ............... 124 4 EXECUTIVE LAW-MAKING CONSTRUING THE AUMF ................................................... 131 4.1 THE DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING STATEMENTS ...................... 134 4.2 OLC MEMORANDA CONSTRUING THE AUMF & THEIR SIGNIFICANCE ............................. 144 5 DEFENDING INHERENT EXECUTIVE RESERVE POWERS .............................................. 177 6 THE 9/11 CRISIS AND THE ICJ’S RULE OF LAW ................................................................ 182 6.1 ILLICIT LAW-MAKING GRANTING UNBRIDLED EMERGENCY POWERS ........................... 183 7 CONCLUSION: THE RULE OF LAW IN THE BALANCE— THE IMPORTANCE OF CONGRESSIONAL AND JUDICIAL RESPONSES ................................................................ 185 CHAPTER 4 ........................................................................................................................ 188 THE RESPONSE OF THE JUDICIARY ......................................................................... 188 TO EXECUTIVE OVERREACHING 2003-2012 ............................................................ 188 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 188 2 HABEAS CORPUS ..................................................................................................................... 189 2.1 THE SUPREME COURT’S DELAYED