In this article we can see a way to remind President Obama of the ever-vigilant position into which--as do all presidents do--he has fallen: the notion that presidents must take expansive power positions on executive actions. Although I am not afraid of President Obama's use of this expansive view of executive power, I do think that the other branches must keep him honest, lest he fall into the same trap as recent well (and not-so-well) intentioned presidents.
Because running our government is so hard to do alone and because it is even harder to do in conjunction with Congress, presidents who are itching to get control over the torrent of issues before them have a constant need to find quick ways to do it. And so, like President Obama on detention issues, they tend to find the quickest, easiest, and most effective methods within the area of executive powers. This is also the most dangerous trap for them. So, even though these Bush-appointed judges are born-again Madisonians, at least they serve to remind the Obama Administration that they should try to resist this overwhelming temptation to take democratic shortcuts.
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