Thunder Bay – Lakehead University Law Professor Dr. Ryan Alford is releasing a book called Permanent State of Emergency, where he discusses the ongoing failure to address human rights abuses in the United States.
Dr. Alford is an Assistant Professor in the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law. In this book he argues that this failure is a symptom of the most serious constitutional crisis in American history.
“Instead of curbing the increase in executive power, Congress and the courts facilitated the breakdown of the nation’s constitutional order and set the stage for presidential supremacy,” Dr. Alford said.
Two court cases compelled Dr. Alford to write this book. These lawsuits bracketed the assassination of a US citizen on the orders of the president: the first attempted to block the drone strike, and the second attempted to hold the president accountable for the murder. Both failed.
This book asks – what sort of nation remains when its citizens’ most fundamental constitutional rights are taken away?
“Dr. Alford’s book on the rule of law engages in some of the most important topics for democratic society in contemporary times,” said Dean Angelique EagleWoman, Bora Laskin Faculty of Law.
This book argues that the numerous alterations to American constitutional order that have occurred since 9/11 have began a qualitative transformation of the American state.
The presidency, Alford argues, is now more than imperial: it is an elective dictatorship.
