THE RUNAWAY PRESIDENTIAL POWER OVER
DIPLOMACY
Galbraith breaks new ground in “The Runaway Presidential Power over Diplomacy,” an article recently published in the Virginia Law Review. Especially in recent years, presidents have claimed an “exclusive” power over diplomacy as a justification for ignoring important congressional statutes — statutes that structure diplomatic engagement, ban appropriations for forms of international engagement, or require executive branch disclosure of diplomacy-related information. Although largely overlooked by scholars up to this point, these claims have led to a significant expansion of presidential power. Galbraith analyzes and critiques these claims, arguing for a more modest understanding of presidential power over diplomacy. The President’s Claims to Exclusive Diplomatic Powers
on research by
J E A N GA L B R A I T H Professor of Law
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Though the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) considers the President’s “exclusive authority to conduct the Nation’s diplomatic relations with other States” to be a “well settled” matter of constitutional interpretation, Galbraith contends that such power is far from “exclusive.” She breaks down the overarching power of diplomacy into five interrelated powers, three of which include strong histories of Congressional involvement: •
The power to represent the United States abroad
•
The power to recognize foreign nations
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The power to decide the content of communications
•
The power to select and control agents of diplomacy
•
The power to control access to diplomatic information