‘The Oath and the Office: A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents’ Corey Brettschneider W.W. Norton & Co. 274 pages, $22.95
When you pick up a book, you may wonder what inspired the writer to write about his subject. When you pick up Corey Brettschneider’s latest offering, though, his subtitle “A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents” likely answers your question. Given the front page headlines of every single day since our president hit the campaign trail, one doesn’t have to interview Prof. Brettschneider, a professor of Constitutional Law at both Brown University and Fordham Law School, to know everything there is to know about it: that it is critical for an elected president to know with precision the obligations and, more important here, the limitations on what he can and should do consistent with the oath of office he has taken, that is, to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution …” It is unlikely that President Trump has read this book—although he certainly should. Let’s hope he does, but importantly, let’s hope the populace—lawyers and non-lawyers alike and whether Trump supporters or not—reads this book to better understand our Constitutional rights so that they are not eroded.
