Can the president single-handedly toss out environmental rules designed to combat global warming? Force states like Washington to help聽enforce federal immigration laws? Fire Robert Mueller?

No, no, and not directly, say Lisa Manheim and Kathryn Watts, professors of law at the 91探花, in a new book.

The answers, of course, are more complicated than a word or two. But every news cycle seems to raise a variation of the same question: Can he do that?

and , both former U.S. Supreme Court clerks, have now literally written the book on what Trump 鈥� or any president 鈥� can and cannot do. “The Limits of Presidential Power: A Citizen鈥檚 Guide to the Law” is 聽on Amazon 鈥� as the one-year anniversary of Trump鈥檚 presidency approaches.

The book emerged from a class Watts and a colleague put together 鈥� at the request of students 鈥� within weeks of Trump鈥檚 election. The feedback they received, along with news coverage of the class, helped to confirm how hungry students, along with members of the public more generally, are for clear and accurate information about the legal basis of presidential power 鈥� and how all Americans can take steps to protect the rule of law.

The result was the book, “The Limits of Presidential Power,鈥� which Manheim and Watts believe is the first to provide a concise and accessible guide to the laws that govern the presidency. To help ensure the book remains timely, inexpensive, and readily available, the authors took another unusual step: They decided to bypass traditional publishers and self-publish. It will be available for $2.99 as an ebook and $7.99 in print.

“We hope our guide will provide people with the knowledge they need in order to effectively participate in government, and to protect the rule of law,” said Watts. “Democracies like ours are kept alive by informed citizens.”

From the start, they decided that this project was about providing the public with knowledge 鈥攁nd they concluded that self-publishing would enable them to get the book to readers faster, and cheaper. In fact, a law school class at the University of Arizona 鈥� one open to the public as well as to law students 鈥� will use it this winter.

At just over 150 pages, “The Limits of Presidential Power” delves, chapter by chapter, into familiar checks (think branches of government) and other important players (the states, the media and the voters). The book also sifts through the president’s “toolkit” and provides a variety of examples, from the first presidency to the 45^th, of how the chief executive has wielded his authority, or been hemmed in:

• Executive orders are less powerful than people think. They’re primarily used as tools of communication with executive branch officials, the authors point out, but presidential administrations past and present often spin them as much more.
• The Constitution grants Congress an enormous amount of power to check the president, but over time, it has delegated significant control to the executive branch. “The law clearly allows Congress to rein that back in; there just needs to be the political will to do it,” Manheim said.
• Many Obama-era environmental policies are vulnerable because they were implemented by executive, rather than legislative, action. Actions taken by President Obama all on his own 鈥� such as his decision to join the Paris Climate Agreement 鈥� are particularly susceptible to Trump-era reversals.

But this isn’t a book about Trump, the authors point out, nor does it take a stand on his presidency 鈥� beyond what it demonstrates about the importance of legal limits. Partisanship has little place in these pages.

“As lawyers and law professors, we believe deeply in protecting the rule of law. We started with that point of view, and that’s what guided us,” Watts said. “You don’t see us weighing in on whether a decision on a policy matter is a good thing or a bad thing.”

What they do suggest is civic participation: consuming, and paying for, reliable sources of media; providing input on proposed federal regulations (a straightforward online process, the authors say); and, of course, voting.聽

“It’s important to vote in every single election. People tend to vote only in elections that are high-profile, but their voting power is greatly reduced if they choose to vote in that selective way,” Manheim said. “State and local officials are constantly making important decisions regarding whether to support or resist the federal government. If voters choose not to vote in state and local elections, those decisions may no longer reflect what those voters want.”

Manheim and Watts believe their book is unique in its approach and target audience; it’s not a traditional textbook or casebook. Rather, it is a guide to the what, why and how of the presidency for all citizens.

“The more people understand how our institutions were designed and what Constitutional protections were built into our government鈥檚 framework, the better chance our democracy has of enduring, and the better people are situated to participate in government,” Watts said. “Participation is key to ensuring that our democracy survives. Democracies don’t protect or sustain themselves. They’re sustained by people.”

###

For more information, contact Watts at 206-543-6299 or kawatts@uw.edu; or Manheim at 206-685-2546 or manheim@uw.edu; or follow the authors via Twitter .

Donald Trump鈥檚 promises on the campaign trail have generated confusion and consternation around the country, as many wonder not only what the president-elect actually intends to do, but what is within his power to accomplish.

Will Trump follow through on his threat to deport millions of undocumented immigrants? Could he pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement? And what of Trump鈥檚 promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act?

Such questions will be the focus of new course on presidential power and its limits starting January 2017 at the 91探花 School of Law. Law professors and will teach the course and said they created it after the election at the request of students.

“They had been reading so much in the news about what the Trump election would mean, and as part of that coverage, there was an emphasis on the power that a president does and does not have while in office,” Knudsen said. “This course is a perfect synergy between students鈥� needs, current events and our expertise聽at the law school.”

The three-credit course will start with an introduction to the relationship between the president and the other two branches of government, followed by a look at “week one under President Trump.”

The class will then delve into case studies on hot-button issues such as climate change, health care and immigration, with a variety of 91探花law professors serving as guest speakers. Confirmed speakers and topics so far include:

• on the U.S. Supreme Court and individual rights
• on legislation
• on the Paris climate agreement
• on immigration
• on health care

Watts and Knudsen will also lend their expertise 鈥� both teach administrative law, and Watts鈥� scholarship focuses on presidential power and decision-making by the Supreme Court. The breadth of knowledge among 91探花law school faculty, Knudsen said, made it possible to put the course together quickly.

“Normally it takes law professors much more time to work up a course like this. But we have so much subject matter expertise in-house,” she said. “We tried to pick issues that really highlight the expertise of our faculty.”

Students will be expected to follow national news sources of their choosing to assess coverage of issues being discussed in class. There鈥檚 no required casebook or final exam 鈥� instead, students will be required to practice the civil engagement tools examined in the course by drafting either a comment聽in an ongoing聽rulemaking, intended to provide detailed feedback to a government agency on proposed regulations; a citizen聽petition for rulemaking, which lays out a proposal for new regulation;聽or an amicus brief, a legal document filed in an ongoing case to provide broader context to the case.

“This will enable students not to just learn about legal tools, but to try their hand at drafting documents that have a role in shaping policy and play a role in the legal framework,” Watts said.

Despite the course being a late addition to the winter quarter schedule, there was a wait list within a day of it being announced, Knudsen said. Other 91探花faculty members have asked if they can sit in on the class, Watts said, and law professors from other schools have asked for the course outline.

The 91探花already offers a course on administrative law, but the new course extends that content to include case studies and current events. Though the course was prompted by Trump鈥檚 win, Knudsen said it is relevant any time the U.S. presidency changes.

“This is not the first time that our nation has been asking these questions,” she said. “The level of interest this year has shown us that this is a meaningful course to offer every time we have a presidential transition.”

For more information, contact Knudsen at sknudsen@uw.edu or 206-221-7443 or Watts at kawatts@uw.edu or 206-543-6299.