John Yoo - Publications

Publications

Yoo's writings and areas of interest fall into three broad areas: American foreign relations; the Constitution's separation of powers and federalism; and international law. In foreign relations, Yoo has argued that the original understanding of the Constitution gives the President the authority to use armed force abroad without congressional authorization, subject to Congress's power of the purse; that treaties do not generally have domestic legal force without implementing legislation; and that courts are functionally ill-suited to intervene in foreign policy disputes between the President and Congress. With the separation of powers, Yoo has argued that each branch of government has the authority to interpret the Constitution for itself, which provides the justification for judicial review by the federal courts. In international law, Yoo has written that the rules governing the use of force must be understood to allow nations to engage in armed intervention to end humanitarian disasters, rebuild failed states, and stop terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Yoo's academic work also includes his analysis of the history of judicial review in the U.S. Constitution. Yoo's book, The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11, was praised in an Op-Ed in The Washington Times, written by Nicholas J. Xenakis, an assistant editor at The National Interest. It was quoted by Senator Joe Biden during the Senate hearings for then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, who "pressed Alito to denounce John Yoo's controversial defense of presidential initiative in taking the nation to war." Yoo is known as a public opponent of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Yoo has authored three books:

• The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11. University of Chicago Press. 2005. ISBN 0-226-96031-5.
• War by Other Means: An Insider's Account of the War on Terror. Atlantic Monthly Press. 2006. ISBN 0-87113-945-6.
• Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George W. Bush. Kaplan Publishing. 2010. ISBN 1-60714-555-3.

He has also contributed chapters to other books, including:

• "Enemy Combatants and the Problem of Judicial Competence" (PDF). Terrorism, the Laws of War, and the Constitution: Debating the Enemy Combatant Cases. Hoover Institution Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-8179-4622-7. http://media.hoover.org/documents/0817946225_69.pdf.