Power Plays

The Memo That Ate Democracy


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In 1995, a mid-level Justice Department lawyer named John Yoo wrote what seemed like routine legal advice about presidential war powers. Two decades later, that 42-page memo had been stretched into a constitutional theory that presidents could ignore Congress, surveil Americans without warrants, and detain citizens indefinitely. How a forgotten Office of Legal Counsel opinion became the blueprint for the imperial presidency—and why every administration since has quietly kept it in their back pocket. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
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