Limits of Executive Power

By guest host John Hockenberry:

Congress makes the laws, the courts interpret the laws, and the President enforces the laws, right? It's the three part supposedly balanced system of government that lies at the heart of our constitution.

The power of Congress and the President have ebbed and flowed throughout history but are we at a turning point now? President Bush claims vast wartime powers and an apparent authority to pick and choose which laws to enforce and how.

Is there any precedent for this? Is Congress allowing it to happen? The courts have disputed the Bush doctrine on presidential power but will that change the President's course?

Are the wheels of balance of power coming off the constitutional wagon?

Guests:

Laurence Tribe, Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard University.

Douglas Kmiec, Professor of Constitutional Law at Pepperdine University.