Jack Goldsmith's education at Yale Law School has served him well. He has taught at the Universities of Virginia and Chicago before accepting the position of being head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice. His brief tenure between 2003-2004 when he resigned is a tribute to his character.
In summary, Goldsmith's perspective is that presidential policy decisions should rest on sound legal bases. Who would argue with this?
Apparently, the drive to expand presidential powers in the name of fighting terrorism was overwhelming. Rosen's review of Goldsmith's new book, "Terror Presidency", indicates that the center of his problems was the Office of the Vice-President and his legal counsel, in particular, David Addington.
Goldsmith's objections were based only on the need to secure congressional and/or court's concurrence with the legal positions used to justify policy decisions.
Opinions of the Office of the Legal Counsel apparently provide the Office of the President with immunity when acting on these opinions. It was unusual, but Goldsmith withdrew several opinions and to secure his decision regarding the opinion formulated by his former friend and Deputy Legal Counsel, John Yoo, regarding torture, Goldsmith resigned. The Supreme Court later would support his decision to withdraw the original opinion.
In short, Goldsmith believes that the President could have got all of power he wanted if he went through Congress appropriately. By usurping the power, he ultimately lessened the inherent powers of the presidency.
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