Andrew Rudalevige, Bowdoin’s Thomas Bracket Reed Professor of Government, was tapped as a resource for the Vox piece, “How Barack Obama is Expanding Presidential Power — And What It Means for the Future.”

The article points out that President Obama has continued many of President George W. Bush’s most controversial programs — but those actions, like controversial NSA surveillance programs and detention powers, have since been authorized by statute.

“Bush had grabbed these powers unilaterally, but it was then more or less ratified by Congress,” says Rudalevidge in the piece. “So Obama can say with a straight face, ‘I’m working within statutory authority.’ He can also say ‘I’m working within the laws of war and the AUMF'” — the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists, passed three days after 9/11 and not yet repealed.” Read the article.