The President and the Pope

[Volokh, Eugene]

	That's a reasonable argument about what's good politics, or The
Right Thing To Do -- though there are of course plausible
counterarguments.  On the other hand, I find it hard to see how it's
even a "constitutional point," in the sense of setting forth
constitutional principles.  It seems to me more of the "politics stops
at the water's edge" variety.

	Incidentally, Mark, what do you think of the examples and
hypotheticals I gave in my other post, for instance if LBJ in 1964,
conferring with a leading official of a mostly American-based church,
urged the person to take a stand in favor of civil rights and against
racism?

	Eugene

> -----Original Message-----
> From: religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu 
> [mailto:religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Mark Graber
> Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 6:54 AM
> To: religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu
> Subject: Re: The President and the Pope
> 
> 
> Might this be a relevant constitutional point, though not a 
> point of constitutional law.
> 
> The president plays many different roles.  Sometimes more 
> partisan roles are appropriate.  So there is nothing 
> unpresidential about a post 1896 president urging Americans 
> to elect Republicans to Congress (but see Tulis, THE 
> RHETORICAL PRESIDENT, suggesting a constitutional norm in the 
> nineteenth century against such behavior).  Other times, the 
> president is clearly the representative of the entire nation. 
>  So campaign rhetoric would have been inappropriate at 
> Reagan's funeral.
> 
> Strikes me that when the President confers with the Pope, 
> representative of the entire nation is the appropriate hat.  
> Urging the Pope to fight terrorism is not problemmatic, 
> because that is a non-partisan issue in the United States.  
> Urging the Pope to speak out more clear against gay marriage 
> or capital punishment is more problematic.
> 
> Is there anything to this admitted intuition.
> 
> MAG
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