President George W. Bush authorized the use of torture. President Barack Obama directed the extrajudicial killing of an American citizen in Yemen. What President Donald Trump will do remains to be seen, but it is broadly understood that a president might test the limits of the law in extraordinary circumstances—and does so with advice from legal counsel. Advising the President is an exploration of this process, viewed through the experience of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Robert H. Jackson on the eve of World War II. The book directly and honestly grapples with the ethical problems inherent in advising a president on actions of doubtful legality; eschewing partisan politics, it presents a practical, realistic model for rendering—and judging the propriety of—such advice.

Jackson, who would go on to be the chief US prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials, was the US solicitor general from 1938–1940, US attorney general from 1940–1941, and Supreme Court justice from 1941–1954. William R. Casto uses his skill and insight as a legal historian to examine the legal arguments advanced by Roosevelt for controversial wartime policies such as illegal wiretapping and unlawful assistance to Great Britain, all of which were related to important issues of national security. Putting these episodes in political and legal context, Casto makes clear distinctions between what the adviser tells the president and what he tells others, including the public, and between advising the president and subsequently facilitating the president’s decision.

“Helpfully, Casto does not merely rehearse Jackson’s defenses and occasional reservations about Roosevelt’s actions. He also subjects Jackson’s legal arguments and policy advice to pointed critique. A compelling meditation on the dividing line between executive service and complicity.”

—Journal of American History

“The author’s careful attention to historical, legal, and political detail during the Roosevelt period is a strength of his analysis and serves to appropriately ground the work for its audience. Advising the President provides a unique look into the complex advisory nature of executive branch politics.”

—Political Science Quarterly

See all reviews...

“Justice Robert H. Jackson was one of the Supreme Court’s most gifted writers and a longtime intimate advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Professor Casto nicely illuminates their relationship and Jackson’s legal and political thought.”

—David M. OBrien, author of Justice Robert H. Jackson’s Unpublished Opinion in Brown v. Board

“Robert Jackson served with distinction as solicitor general, attorney general, and associate justice of the Supreme Court. His concurring opinion in the Youngstown Steel Seizure Case of 1952 remains a landmark. W. R. Casto adeptly explores in detail Jackson’s nuanced and evolving understanding of a president’s constitutional powers. This is an important book. It not only explains and assesses Jackson’s views, it also helps us gain insight on enduring constitutional issues that remain relevant today.”

—John P. Burke, John G. McCullough Professor of Political Science, University of Vermont

“William Casto has produced a readable and accessible synthesis of an understudied topic, the relationship between an American president and his chief legal advisor. Despite the extensive scholarly commentary on the careers of Franklin Roosevelt and Robert Jackson, there has hitherto been no sustained analysis of Jackson’s role in giving Roosevelt legal advice on a variety of topics between 1938 and 1941, years in which Jackson served as Solicitor General and Attorney General before being appointed by Roosevelt to the Supreme Court. Casto has filled that gap.”

—G. Edward White, David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law and University Professor, University of Virginia School of Law

See fewer reviews...

Based upon the real-life experiences of a great attorney general advising a great president, Casto’s timely work presents a pragmatic yet ethically powerful approach to giving legal counsel to a president faced with momentous, controversial decisions.