Who does an appellate judge do in court

the berlin blockade was an international crisis that arose from an attempt by the soviet union, in 1948–49, to force the western allied powers (the united states, the united kingdom, and france) to abandon their post-world war ii jurisdictions in west berlin. in march 1948 the allied powers decided to unite their different occupation zones of germany into a single economic unit. in protest, the soviet representative withdrew from the allied control council. coincident with the introduction of a new deutsche mark in west berlin (as throughout west germany), which the soviets regarded as a violation of agreements with the allies, the soviet occupation forces in eastern germany began a blockade of all rail, road, and water communications between berlin and the west. on june 24 the soviets announced that the four-power administration of berlin had ceased and that the allies no longer had any rights there.

in the united states, the president is controlled by the

constitution, and in all respects subordinate to it. insofar

as it deals with presidential power, however, the american

constitution has proved to be a highly malleable document.

with very few exceptions,' the constitutional provisions relating to the president have not been changed at all since

they were ratified in 1787. but in the late twentieth century, those provisions do not mean what they meant in

1787. the constitution is a legal document, and it is enforced judicially; but its meaning was hardly fixed when it

was ratified. in particular, the contemporary president has

far broader powers than the original constitution contemplated. it is remarkable but true that large-scale changes in

the authority of the president have been brought about

without changes in the constitutional text, but nevertheless

without significant illegality.

this is a paradox. is it not clear that constitutional

changes, if not textual, are illegal? the paradox has considerable relevance to our current thinking about the presidency in particular and about constitutionalism in general.

perhaps the framers of the american constitution feared

legislative power most of all; 2 but from well-known events

in the twentieth century, it is possible to conclude that it is

presidential power that holds out the greatest risks to both

liberty and democracy. the president is by far the most visible leader in the nation; he is often the only person in government with a national constituency. moreover, he is