Bolton Alexander - Checks in the Balance

Checks in the Balance

Princeton Studies in American Politics: Historical, International, and Comparative Perspectives

Suzanne Mettler, Eric Schickler, and Theda Skocpol, Series Editors

Ira Katznelson and Martin Shefter, Founding Series Editors (Emeritus)

A list of titles in this series appears at the

Checks in the Balance

LEGISLATIVE CAPACITY AND THE DYNAMICS OF EXECUTIVE POWER

ALEXANDER BOLTON

SHARECE THROWER

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINCETON & OXFORD

Copyright 2022 by Princeton University Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bolton, Alexander, 1988 author. | Thrower, Sharece, 1987 author.

Title: Checks in the balance: legislative capacity and the dynamics of executive power / Alexander Bolton, Sharece Thrower.

Description: Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, [2022] | Series: Princeton studies in American politics: historical, international, and comparative perspectives | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021011354 (print) | LCCN 2021011355 (ebook) | ISBN 9780691224596 (paperback) | ISBN 9780691224619 (hardback) | ISBN 9780691224602 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Executive-legislative relationsUnited States. | Executive powerUnited States. | Separation of powersUnited States. | United StatesPolitics and government. | Legislative powerUnited States. | Policy sciencesUnited States.

Classification: LCC JK585.B5145 2022 (print) | LCC JK585 (ebook) | DDC 328.7307/456dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021011354

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021011355

Version 1.0

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

Editorial: Bridget Flannery-OConnor and Alena Chekanov

Production Editorial: Kathleen Cioffi

Cover Design: Karl Spurzem

Production: Erin Suydam

Publicity: Kate Hensley and Kathryn Stevens

To our parentsJeffrey, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Sharon.

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We first imagined the idea for this book as graduate students in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. The exact location of its origins is disputed between the authors. One of us claims we were working in 126 Corwin Hall when the idea first struck, while the other insists we were idling in the third-floor fishbowl of Robertson Hall. In any case, numerous people helped nurture this idea along the way to whom we are indebted.

We would first like to thank our graduate school mentors, Chuck Cameron, Brandice Canes-Wrone, and Nolan McCarty, for their steady guidance and mentorship in our first experiences with research and publishing. Thank you to our former graduate student and faculty colleagues at Princeton and the University of Pittsburgh for being helpful audiences in workshopping our very early ideas for this book.

We likewise extend our gratitude to the attendees of our book conference, particularly Thad Kousser, George Krause, Doug Kriner, Chuck Shipan, and Gisela Sin. We appreciate their thoughtful engagement with our work, as well as the extensive feedback, assistance, and encouragement we received from them before, during, and after the conference. Thank you to several colleagues at Vanderbilt University for hosting and participating in our book conference and for generously commenting on various drafts of the manuscript over the years.

Sharece would like to give a shout-out to the fantastic graduate students who took her American Presidency course at Vanderbilt in the spring of 2019: Georgia Anderson-Nilsson, Nick Bednar, Rich Hagner, Meredith McLain, Chris Piper, and Mary Catherine Sullivan. They all provided excellent feedback on the manuscript, participated in our book conference, and gave me life with detailed analysis of current reality TV shows. Our book has also greatly benefited from the countless hours of work by several brilliant undergraduate and graduate student research assistants at Vanderbilt and Pitt: Sean Craig, Justin Hutchings, Claire Larson, Jack Millard, Cassie Schwartz, Kelly Shearin, Darrian Stacy, Channing Thomas, and Matt Zarit. We really could not have done this without them.

Alex would like to thank all his colleagues at Emory University for their support, particularly Tom Clark and John Patty for their feedback and advice in navigating the writing and publishing process. Many Emory graduate and undergraduate students contributed substantially to the project through their fantastic research assistance: Justin Cohen, Anna Gunderson, Michael Hanley, Dahae Lee, and Christopher Thomas. It was a pleasure to work with them over the years, and we are so grateful for their efforts. We would also like to express our gratitude to the College of Arts and Sciences and Laney Graduate School at Emory for financially supporting this project.

Thank you to Linda Fowler, Doug Kriner, Jason MacDonald, and Eric Schickler for generously sharing their data, and for inspiring much of our work. We would also like to express our gratitude to the numerous panelists, audiences, and discussants at various conferences, workshops, and seminars where we have presented this work at over the years. We have learned immensely from their feedback during these invaluable experiences. They enriched our research, and we are better scholars for it.

A very special thanks to our wonderful editor, Bridget Flannery-McCoy, for believing in our project and going above and beyond to ensure its success. Her guidance and encouragement were integral to the development of our project. We cannot imagine a better or more supportive editor, and we are so grateful to have worked with her. We are also indebted to Brigid Ackerman, Alena Chekanov, Kathleen Cioffi, Kate Hensley, Emily Shelton, Karl Spurzem, Kathryn Stephens, and the rest of the PUP team for providing such a positive and seamless publication process. Thank you to the anonymous reviewers who carefully read the manuscript (when it was much longer!) and offered detailed, constructive feedback. We appreciate their time and insights. Our book is all the better for it.

We offer our sincere thanks to Dave Lewisan incredible colleague, mentor, and friend. Not only did he read multiple drafts of every chapter, but he offered us heartfelt encouragement at the times we needed it most. Special thanks to Alan Wiseman for also devoting substantial time in reading our manuscript. He has constantly provided critical support and mentorship, ever since saving one of us from attending law school as an undergrad. George Krause has given us some of the most spot-on, in-depth, and timely feedback on this book project and too many other papers to name. Words cannot express how grateful we are for his outstanding mentorship and the positive impact he has had on our careers.