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Constitutional Originalism and the Authority of Congress and the
President to Intern Radical Islamic Americans in the War on Terrorism
By Dr. Charles W. Chapman
University of Texas at Brownsville
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States
of America.
Preamble, United States Constitution
..terrorism is escalating to the point that citizens of the United States may soon
have to choose between civil liberties and more intrusive forms of protection.
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Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, 1997
Introduction
In our approach to national government, at least as it has evolved, the People expect
the President to guide the nation through catastrophic events. Such an event might be an
international or a civil war, an economic depression, terrorism on a massive scale, a natural
disaster, and so forth. Americans expect that the Congress will be involved, but they identify
with the President as the leader of the nation in perilous times.
For example, in 1861 President Lincoln faced just such a political catastrophe as the
nation split apart. Americans in the states that remained in the union looked to him to keep the
nation intact. But President Lincoln faced circumstances no President before him had
experienced. He was forced to operate with a different rule-set than that of his predecessors. It
was as if political tectonic plates had shift across each other causing the earth to split open. By
1861, Presidential conduct had been defined by the actions taken by previous Presidents. A
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