THE TERROR PRESIDENCY: LAW AND JUDGMENT INSIDE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. BY JACK GOLDSMITH. W.W. NORTON & COMPANY, 2007. In his book, The Terror Presidency, (1) Harvard Professor Jack Goldsmith writes about his nine months of service as head of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice. The book is a useful and interesting contribution to the modern debate over the balance between national security and civil liberties. It is also a provocative contribution, perhaps sometimes in ways unintended by the author, to what it means to be a nation governed by the rule of law rather than the rule of men. Until recently, this Office was not well known to the general public, (2) even though it played pivotal roles in advising Franklin Roosevelt on constitutional aspects of U.S. support for Great Britain in World War II, (3) Dwight Eisenhower in the use of troops to integrate schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, (4) and, as Professor Goldsmith now documents, George W. Bush in the assessment of legal authorities in the wake of 9/11. Towering figures in American law have occupied the front office in OLC, including Nicolas Katzenbach, Malcolm Wilkey, William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Theodore Olson, and Walter Dellinger. (5) Even some of those who worked in OLC but did not head the Office, such as Samuel Alito, have gone on to great national service. (6) Many others have enjoyed a legal career greatly enriched by service to OLC. (7)
