This review of Goldsmith's book reminds me of another problem with the "I know it when I see it" approach to regulating the actions of officials in the war on terrorism. It is not the "see" part that causes so much trouble but the "when". The Congress saw all the techniques that are being called into question in the aftermath of 9/11 and didn't care. It sees the same things now and calls it a big problem. The whole approach of loading laws with vague and emotionally charged terms is not only that the law with change with the beholder but that the beholder will change with the times.

|The reviewer also takes the strange but all too common approach of blaming the Bush administration for the excesses of the Court system. A lot of bad precedents have been set because the Bush administration has insisted on using the same powers that presidents in previous wars have taken largely for granted, when they should have known that the current courts would never allow it. but is not that not an indictment of the courts at least as much as the Administration?
It is odd that he points out that the court has mostly held that the administration has to go back to Congress. But previous Courts have let Congress...