Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski
ERROR

Tournament: Wake | Round: 4 | Opponent: Indiana MP | Judge: Beth Mendenhall
ERROR

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 5 | Opponent: Kansas HW | Judge: Shae Bunas
Contention Three - The Cult of the Presidency - 

The intended Constitutional powers of the President are radically different from the unitarians’post 9/11 viewpoint.
Healey 8 (Gene, Vice President, CATO Institute, Contributing Editor Liberty Magazine, J.D., University of Chicago Law School; Cult of the Presidency, p. 26-28)
‘In America, the…of the law.

The exercise of this uncontrolled power has neither precedent nor justification; the President is not above the law in any respect, especially in cases of indefinite detention.
Healy 8 (Gene, Vice President, CATO Institute, Contributing Editor Liberty Magazine, J.D., University of Chicago Law School; Cult of the Presidency, p. 175)
In the last…the act’s constraints.

Abuses of presidential powers have been justified under the guise of an undeclared “government war footing”. This rampant unchecked power to detain terrorism suspects has affected American citizens on home soil as well as suspects extradited from other countries.
Healy 8 (Gene, Vice President, CATO Institute, Contributing Editor Liberty Magazine, J.D., University of Chicago Law School; Cult of the Presidency, p. 173-175)
At Chicago’s  O’Hare…at  all times.’’3

Presidential war powers militarize civic culture.
Nelson 8 (Dana, Professor of English and American Studies at Vanderbilt University, Bad for Democracy: How the Presidency Undermines the Power of the People, pp. 26-28)
Chapter 3 analyzes…for the people.   

Permanent war conditions our society around aggression and fear – this system of living is fundamentally unsustainable.  Hiding behind the façade of strength is only the monster of destruction.
Hedges 9 (Chris, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years, part of the team of reporters at The New York Times awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism, senior fellow at The Nation Institute and has taught at Columbia and Princeton, “The Disease of Permanent War”, Truthdig, 5/18, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090518_the_disease_of_permanent_war/)
The embrace by…behind the facade. 

Abandoning presidentialism means an escape from civil war culture built upon the illusion of national unity.
Nelson 8 (Dana, Professor of English and American Studies at Vanderbilt University, Bad for Democracy: How the Presidency Undermines the Power of the People, pp. 200-203)
A fundamental—and…and creative democracy.

The plan builds an alliance with the victims of over-exertion of Presidential war powers, bringing accountability back to the question of truth rather than politics.  An investigatory commission on war powers supplements existing political approaches with a form of public participation capable of exposing the inadequacy of both Presidential and Congressional warmaking activities.
Simon 5 (Jonathan, Associate Dean, Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, and Professor of Law at University of California at Berkeley, “Parrhesiastic Accountability: Investigatory Commissions and Executive Power in an Age of Terror”, 114 Yale L.J. 1419, April, L/N)
The powerful role…Greeks called parrhesia.

Investigatory commissions overcome the Congressional proclivity to give in to Presidential war powers, allowing the effective exercise of accountability and oversight.  Congressional involvement is key to combating the executive’s claims to totalizing power and allows the independent exercise of fact-finding that contains the impulse towards misinformed war.
Simon 5 (Jonathan, Associate Dean, Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, and Professor of Law at University of California at Berkeley, “Parrhesiastic Accountability: Investigatory Commissions and Executive Power in an Age of Terror”, 114 Yale L.J. 1419, April, L/N)
In the United…of investigatory commissions.

Put away the Politics DA – the plan is non-partisan and any risk of a link is both inevi

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski
Contention One – Inherency – 

A private sector task force has investigated and reported on the likelihood of detainee abuse but has no ability to enforce accountability now – creation of an official investigatory commission is key to sending a clear message against torture.
Human Rights Watch 13 (“US: Bipartisan Study Shows Need to Investigate Torture”, 4/16, http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/16/us-bipartisan-study-shows-need-investigate-torture)
A bipartisan study…their political leanings.”

Unfortunately, Congress refuses to establish an official investigatory commission to identify and hold accountable those who participated in torture.
Tolbert 13 (David, President of the International Center for Transitional Justice, “United States Must Ensure Accountability for ‘War on Terror’ Abuses”, 4/29, http://ictj.org/news/united-states-must-ensure-accountability-E2809Cwar-terrorE2809D-abuses)
The Constitution Project’s…redress to victims.

Tournament: Wayne | Round: Quarters | Opponent: UNI SS | Judge:
Force feeding detainees at Guantanamo violates medical ethics and requires health professionals to shed their clinical responsibilities in an act of medical doubling.
McKay 13 (Donna, Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights, “Force Feeding Violates Basic Medical Ethics and Our Core Values”, Huffington Post, 8/9, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donna-mckay/force-feeding-violates-basic-medical-ethics_b_3727208.html?utm_hp_ref=worldandir=World)
The recent video…justice and fairness.

Medical complicity in torture socializes health professionals and society at large to accept and participate in broader social atrocities by providing an illusion of medical legitimacy.
Lifton 4 (Robert, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard University, “Doctors and Torture”, New England Journal of Medicine, 6/29, http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp048065)
There is increasing…role as healers.

This process of medical doubling sustains the ideological currents which are the necessary precondition for genocide and nuclear war – we must speak out against the repetition of these practices to escape the drive towards inevitable destruction.
Lifton 86 (Robert, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard University, “The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide”, http://www.holocaust-history.org/lifton/LiftonT503.shtml)
But my witness…hopeless genocidal scream.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 5 | Opponent: Kansas HW | Judge: Shae Bunas
PLAN – The United States Congress should prohibit presidential indefinite detention authority not expressly approved by a federal investigatory commission created by Congress with the power to subpoena executive branch officials and access to classified information.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski
PLAN – The United States Congress should substantially increase statutory and judicial restrictions on the war powers authority of the President of the United States by establishing an investigatory commission on indefinite detention vested with the authority to subpoena executive branch officials and access to classified information.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski
Contention Three – Secrecy – 

New revelations of extraordinary rendition expose the lack of transparency associated with detention practices.  Establishing a comprehensive investigation is key to eliminate the shroud of secrecy used to deny responsibility for torture.
Frankel 13 (Allison, ACLU Human Rights Program, “New Information About CIA Extraordinary Rendition Program Highlights Need For Transparency, Accountability”, 7/31, http://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights-national-security/new-information-about-cia-extraordinary-rendition-program)
We may be…brought to light.
External checks on secrecy in the area of detention are key – otherwise the President will create other legal authority to justify non-disclosure of key information properly in Congress’ possession.
Berman 10 (Emily, Counsel in the Liberty and National Security Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, “Executive Privilege Disputes between Congress and the President: A Legislative Proposal,” 3 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 741, L/N)
It is apparent…and more transparent.

Upholding the presidential power to engage in excessive secrecyrisks nuclear miscalculation and failure of our defense doctrine – the impact is extinction.
Podesta 6 (John, Chair of the Center for American Progress and the Center for American Progress Action Fund, served as White House chief of staff to President William J. Clinton, served in the president’s cabinet and as a principal on the National Security Council, co-chair of President Barack Obama’s transition, visiting professor of law at Georgetown University, “The Hidden Threat: Combating Government Secrecy in the 21st Century”, Remarks to colloquium on Imagining a New Constitution at Amherst College, 9/15, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/open-government/news/2006/09/15/2182/the-hidden-threat-combating-government-secrecy-in-the-21st-century/)
Openness in government…our nuclear doctrine.

No risk of offense – excessive secrecy breeds anti-Americanism, public distrust of government and flawed policymaking.
Parry 13 (Robert, Investigative reporter who broke the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s, “How Excessive Secrecy Corrodes Democracy”, Consortium News, 2/6, http://consortiumnews.com/2013/02/06/how-secrecy-corrodes-democracy/)
The United States…is truly necessary.

Investigatory commissions overcome the Congressional proclivity to give in to Presidential war powers, allowing the effective exercise of accountability and oversight.  Congressional involvement is key to combating the executive’s tendency towards secrecy and allows the independent exercise of fact-finding that contains the impulse towards misinformed or miscalculated war.
Simon 5 (Jonathan, Associate Dean, Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, and Professor of Law at University of California at Berkeley, “Parrhesiastic Accountability: Investigatory Commissions and Executive Power in an Age of Terror”, 114 Yale L.J. 1419, April, L/N)
In theUnited…of investigatory commissions.

Put away the Politics DA – the plan is non-partisan and any risk of a link is both inevitable due to other partial investigations and outweighed by the impact to the affirmative.  Only a comprehensive and independent commission can hold Congress and the executive branch accountable for lax oversight and excessive secrecy.
Schwarz 9 (Frederick, Chief Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, “Investigating Bush: the political consequences”, LA Times, 3/13, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-schwarz-rabkin13-2009mar13,0,7514892.story)
The independent commission…and resource constraints.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski
Contention Two – Torture – 

Both indefinite detention and detainee abuse continue despite the Obama administration’s slight deviation from Bush-era war on terror practices.
Glaser 13 (John, Editor at Antiwar.com, Published at the American Conservative Magazine, The Daily Caller and Truthout, “Obama Indefinitely Detains, Not Just at Gitmo”, 8/5, http://antiwar.com/blog/2013/08/05/obama-indefinitely-detains-not-just-at-gitmo/)
The debate about…The Second Guantanamo.

Torture dehumanizes victim and torturer alike – its robs humanity of dignity and conditions us to accept violence.  Only finding ways to publically expose and repair the social harms created by torture can break the cycle of vengeance that threatens to collapse the social order.
Chanbonpin 11 (Kim, Assistant Professor of Law at John Marshall Law School, “"We Don't Want Dollars, Just Change": Narrative Counter-Terrorism Strategy, an Inclusive Model for Social Healing, and the Truth About Torture Commission”, 6 Nw. J. L. and Soc. Pol'y 1, Winter, L/N)
Torture by government…repair social harms.

Dehumanization outweighs all other impacts.
Berube 97 (David, Professor of English at University of South Carolina, “Nanotechnological Prolongevity: The Down Side”, http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/faculty/berube/prolong.htm)
Assuming we are…most powerful weapon.
Focus on utilitarian logistics and political expediency justifies torture as normal politics – turning torture into a mundane question of national security guarantees sweeps the issue under the rug and allows it to continue.
Heine 9 (John, Chair in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs (Canada) and Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, “Confronting an Evil Past”, Frontline, 26(19), http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2619/stories/20090925261905700.htm)
As mentioned above…of doing politics.

Creating an investigatory commission with the power to subpoena and examine executive agencies serves as a warning against future abuses of power.  This establishes public responsibility for official injustices and serves as the basis for corrective action.
BCJ 8 (Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, “Investigating Violations of the Rule of Law in Counter-Terrorism Policy”, 12/29, http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/investigating-violations-rule-law-counter-terrorism-policy)
The Brennan Center…and our values.

Establishing an investigatory commission challenges the legitimacy of the President’s war powers authority and forces Congress into confrontation for its irresponsibility as an effective check on executive power.  The plan brings institutions and individuals to account for their role in the dispassionate application of sovereign violence, exposing the inadequacy of traditional political and legal action and opening up space for a broader criticism of war and politics.
Simon 5 (Jonathan, Associate Dean, Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, and Professor of Law at University of California at Berkeley, “Parrhesiastic Accountability: Investigatory Commissions and Executive Power in an Age of Terror”, 114 Yale L.J. 1419, April, L/N)
John Hart Ely's…over those matters.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski
The plan mandates executive reporting and access to classified information through Congress – that imposes a statutory restriction on Presidential authority.
Berman 10 (Emily, Counsel in the Liberty and National Security Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, “Executive Privilege Disputes between Congress and the President: A Legislative Proposal,” 3 Alb. Gov't L. Rev. 741, L/N)
As an initial…denied such information.

Reasonability is key to evaluating the term ‘restriction’ in the context of detention – all definitions of ‘restriction’ are highly contextual and depend on the specific powers in question.
Hains 11 (William, JD, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, “Challenging the Executive: The Constitutionality of Congressional Regulation of the President's Wartime Detention Policies”, 2011 B.Y.U.L. Rev. 2283, L/N)
The war on…countries are constitutional.

Tournament: Wayne | Round: Quarters | Opponent: UNI SS | Judge: 

1. Non-Link– Torture uniquely proves that a human-centered mindset - it creates a never-ending cycle of violence that we must publicly repair to have any hope for engaging in alternate systems of ethics.  We don’t privilege human impacts over nature but rather say we need to arrest our tendency to separate ourselves from other beings in a way that justifies unlimited violence through doubling psychology.

2. Perm – do both – we can reject human domination and anthropocentrism without rejecting the aff
Strong 5 (David Strong, Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies at Rocky Mountain Colllege, 2005, Ed. Carl Mitcham.Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. p653-661, Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics, “Environmental Ethics,” acc on Gale)
Val Plumwood in…and technological domination.

3. Alt Fails – Critiquing mastery over nature and ignoring the potential of state structures reinforces dangerous institutions and creates an image of apolitical liberation that only conceals fascism
STAUDENMAIER 95(Peter, “Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience,” http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/germany/sp001630/ecofasc.html)
The experience of…lead to barbarism.

4. Environmentalist anti-humanism and the critique of rationality are only a cover for a revival of fascism
BIEHL and STAUDENMAIER 95 (Janet and Peter, “Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience,” http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/germany/sp001630/ecofasc.html)
For many such…and fascist ends.

5. Perm Solves- Working to change the law and personal activities simultaneously is critical to providing mutual support for creating a holistic ecological worldview.
Eckersley 92 (Robyn, Australian Research Council Fellow at Centre for Environmental Studies at University of Tasmania, Environmentalism and Political Theory: Toward an Ecocentric Approach, p. 63)
The autopoietic intrinsic…hand in hand.

7. No solvency on the secrecy advantage- proves that the alternative can’t solve because secerecy means we’re always susceptible to thought control and government lies. They’ll use fear and constructed threats to block any widespread recognition of nature’s intrinsic evidence.

8. The alternative alone fails and recreates more Anthro- Attempts to overcome anthropocentrism are impossible and create worse forms of anthropocentrism
Hayward 97(Tim Hayward, Professor of Environmental Political Theory; Director of Just World Institute; Programme Director of MSc International Political Theory; University of Edinburgh; Feb 1997, Environmental Values, Vol. 6, No. 1 (February 1997), pp. 49-63, White Horse Press, “Anthropocentrism: A Misunderstood Problem,” via jstor)
But if the…expunge anthropocentrism altogether.

9. Turn - The term “anthropocentrism” is based on the Greek word “ anthropo,” which is gendered language and excludes womyn.
Hoffman 9 (PhD in theoretical linguistics and biblical scholar, 9/16/9, goddidntsaythat.com)
How Is Anthropos…but not convincing.

B. Using masculine pronouns is a learned but dated choice that is no longer acceptable.
UNC Writing Center, No Date (1997-2008 is date range,http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/gender.html )
The English language…considered unacceptable now.

C. Patriarchal discourse turns the kritik and makes world peace impossible.
Lian Chew 98 (Phyllis, Sr. Lecturer @ School of Arts, Nanyang Technological Univ, “The Challenge of Unity: Women, Peace and Power”, http://action.web.ca/home/cpcc/attach/Women20Peace20and20Power.htm)
This articles touches…for world peace.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski

1. Non-Unique – Drone shift now.
   Lefkowitz and O’Quinn 13 (Jay, Senior Lawyer and Former Domestic Policy Advisor to President George W. Bush, and John, Former Department of Justice Official, “Drones are no substitute for detention”, Financial Times, 3/4,http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dae6552c-84c2-11e2-891d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2gFkZXOMD)
   Memo to all…easy way out.

2. Case solves – a commission questions ALL war powers – that’s Simon – the AFF increases institutional accountability and access to information in the warmaking process, which checks the dispassionate application of violence and misinformed or miscalculated warmaking – prefer our specific solvency since they have no link specific to commissions.

3. No Link – shift to drones is motivated by external factors, NOT limits on detention authority – and alternatives to drones are available and used.
Chesney 11 (Robert, Charles I. Francis Professor of Law at UT, “Examining the Evidence of a Detention-Drone Strike Tradeoff”, Lawfare, 10/17, www.lawfareblog.com/2011/10/examining-the-evidence-of-a-detention-drone-strike-tradeoff)
Yesterday Jack linked…difficult to measure. 

4. Case outweighs – torture is an ongoing form of violence and secrecy makes anti-Americanism worse and causes nuclear miscalculation.  Even if drones are bad, the status quo is worse since our impacts are 100 probable.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski

1. Case outweighs – dehumanization makes nuclear war inevitable by making humans disposable – this ongoing violence outweighs the threat of terrorism – and secrecy causes nuclear miscalculation by making effective policymaking inevitable – eliminating excessive secrecy solves the root cause of terrorism solves by eliminating anti-Americanism.

2. Submitting the Syria attack to Congress limits presidential flexibility now.
CNN 9/4 (Leigh Ann Caldwell, “Is Obama setting bad precedent for future presidents?” http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/04/politics/obama-syria-precedent/?hpt=po_c2)
President Barack Obama's…security at risk.

3. Utilitarian politics bad – that’s the Heine evidence – their evidence allows people to be tortured for the sake of political expediency – that’s morally repugnant because it excuses our responsibility for collective violence and opens the door to future atrocities by bypassing accountability for violence committed in our name for the sake of national security.

4. Congressional input improves foreign policy – outweighs the benefit to executive flexibility.
Paul 98 (Joel R., Professor at University of Connecticut School of Law, “The Geopolitical Constitution: Executive Expediency and Executive Agreements,” California Law Review, 86 Calif. L. Rev. 671, July, Lexis)
The discourse of…less than Congress.

5. No link uniqueness – Schwarz says that ad hoc investigations are inevitable and HRW says the Senate has already investigated allegations of torture – both of those actions will inevitably cause questions of prez powers, undermining ex-flex.

6. Presidential power causesunilateral aggression, which leads to extinction - power, not psychology, drives these decisions.
Forrester 89 (Ray, Professor, @ Hastings College of the Law, University of California, Former dean of the law schools at Vanderbilt, Tulane, and Cornell, “Presidential Wars in the Nuclear Age: An Unresolved Problem” George Washington Law Review, August, 57 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1636, Lexis)
A basic theory…unable to survive.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski

1. External checks key – Berman and Simon say maintaining executive authority creates an incentive for the executive bureaucracy to expand excessive secrecy – only the plan creates the transparency necessary for an open investigation of the President’s detention practice.

2. Only Congress can grant subpoena power to commissions.
Cole 9 (Lance, Professor of Law at Penn State, “Special National Investigative Commissions: Essential Powers and Procedures (Some Lessons from the Pearl Harbor, Warren Commission, and 9/11 Commission Investigations)”, 41 McGeorge L. Rev. 1, L/N)
A different way…had been formed.

3. Perm – Do Both

4. Executive orders don’t constrain future presidents – only Congress can create tight limits on Presidential war powers.
Ackerman 9 (Bruce, Professor of Law at Yale, “Why We Need a Commission on Presidential Power”, The American Prospect, 3/25, http://prospect.org/article/why-we-need-commission-presidential-power)
President Barack Obama…the Bush years. 

5. Commissions established by executive order lack credibility – too close to the executive branch to create an effective signal against torture.
Cole 9 (Lance, Professor of Law at Penn State, “Special National Investigative Commissions: Essential Powers and Procedures (Some Lessons from the Pearl Harbor, Warren Commission, and 9/11 Commission Investigations)”, 41 McGeorge L. Rev. 1, L/N)
Within days of the…credibility is evident.

6. Commissions established by executive order operate in secret and fail to confront the abuse of Presidential authority.
Cole 9 (Lance, Professor of Law at Penn State, “Special National Investigative Commissions: Essential Powers and Procedures (Some Lessons from the Pearl Harbor, Warren Commission, and 9/11 Commission Investigations)”, 41 McGeorge L. Rev. 1, L/N)
n53.See id.;…McGeorge Law Review).

7. Conditionality is a voting issue – skews 2AC time allocation by forcing us to cover multiple contradictory positions and destroy 2AC strategy by forcing us to debate against ourselves.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski

1. Link Assumes the Status Quo – Simon says the law is disempowering, violent and indeterminate NOW precisely because it is controlled by regimes of truth – an investigatory commission approach establishes independent oversight of the executive and legislative branches that brings the voices of victims into confrontation with sovereign violence, allowing for regimes of truth to be re-constituted around the demand for justice.  Prefer our specific solvency evidence on this question since it better assumes the solvency mechanism of the AFF.

2. The law, in and of itself, will never fully contain the executive and constitutional crises created through the assertion of executive authority – it is up to us as debaters to connect our legal discourse with the real world through the use of rhetoric to have any chance of reconnecting activated political culture with respect for the rule of law.
Brooks 6 (Rosa Ehrenreich, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, “We the People’s Executive”, 115 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 88, 2/28, L/N)
Perhaps to no…point at all.

3. Case outweighs – the law and torture dehumanizes its victims and perpetuators NOW –Berube says this is a fate worse than death because it reduces all humans to disposable objects.  Our secrecy advantage takes out solvency for the alternative – as long as the executive determines the limits of secrecy, we’ll never know the truth extend of the legal system’s corruption, which prevents us from mobilizing resistance outside of the law.

4. Permutation – Do Both

5. The perm is key to solve – we must combine the alternative with demands for legislative action to create organizing opportunities that hold leaders accountable for their role in warmaking.
Leys 6 (Jeff, “The Legislative Quandry,” Voices for Creative Nonviolence, 3/15, http://vcnv.org/the-legislative-quandry)
Vigiling and fasting…the Iraqi people.

6. Alt can’t solve the case – the HRW and Tolbert evidence say ONLY official governmental action can enforce legal accountability for torture – even if they can change some attitudes, extra-legal resistance can’t overcome the individual motives for folks like Rumsfeld, Bush and John Yoo who find their own legal justifications for torture – only a risk changing the law can solve.

7. We must retain hope in the face of cynicism to allow for the transformation of liberal values away from force and violence - belief that the affirmative is coopted is a means of furthering demoralization that allows for elites to assert control over life and politics.
Whyte 9 (Jessica, “Contesting realities,” Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Journal, 1(2)
Wendy Brown has…act, against reality.

8. Critical engagement debilitates the space for political struggle, allowing elites to fill the void and reinforce oppression.
Cook 92 (Anthony, Associate Professor at Georgetown Law, New England Law Review, Spring, L/N)
The effect of…wealth and power.

9. We must take on the standpoint of the oppressed – pure critique promotes academic elitism incapable of creating alternative visions for effective political engagement.
Cook 90 (Anthony, Associate Professor of Law at University of Florida, 103 Harv. L. Rev. 985, L/N)
Finally, deconstruction should…and the streets.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski

1. No Link – extend the Scwarz evidence – plan is a nonpartisan, independent commission – any risk of a link is inevitable in a world of internal investigations by executive agencies and Congressional oversight committees.

2. Turn – Amash – House Republican Amash opposes indefinite detention authority.
Adams 11 (Will, “Amash: Stop Indefinite Detention of Americans”, Justin Amash Press Release, 12/12, http://amash.house.gov/press-release/amash-stop-indefinite-detention-americans)
Rep. Justin Amash…Rob Woodall (R-GA).

B. Amash is a key Republican vote in the House – he has lots of power with his party leadership.
Nocera 13 (Kate, “Meet The Most Powerful Junior Republican In The House Of Representatives”, Buzzfeed, 7/22, http://www.buzzfeed.com/katenocera/meet-the-most-powerful-junior-republican-in-the-house-of-rep)
Rep. Thomas Massie…take him seriously. 

3. Turn – McCain – Plan is a concession to Republican Senator John McCain – he supports investigating torture.
Killmer 13 (Richard, Executive Director, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, “Bipartisan Support for Releasing the Torture Report”, Huffington Post, 5/2, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-richard-l-killmer/release-torture-report_b_3195135.html)
Last week, Vice…since its founding.

B. McCain is the Senate’s bipartisan playmaker – he makes deals happen that no one else can – means plan is the only way to a successful conclusion to the conference committee.
Leary 13 (Alex, Tampa Bay Times Washington Bureau Chief, “Sen. John McCain back in front, waging influence as dealmaker”, 7/19, http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/sen-john-mccain-back-in-front-waging-influence-as-dealmaker/2132264)
The 76-year-old…at Guantanamo Bay.

4. Turn – GOP is shifting on war powers debate – libertarians are pushing the party towards constraining the President – they’d like the plan.
Hutchinson 13 (Earl Ofari, frequent MSNBC contributor, associate editor of New America Media, “Why the GOP Is Suddenly the Party of Peace”, Huffington Post, 9/8, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/why-the-gop-is-suddenly-t_b_3886383.html)
The stunning number….the Middle East.

5. Case outweighs – extend Berube – torture is going on now and dehumanizes us to accept genocide and nuclear war by seeing people as disposable objects.  The Podesta evidence also says that presidential secrecy causes nuclear miscalculation and collapse of our defense doctrine – both of which are hidden tripwires to extinction.

6. Utilitarian politics bad – that’s the Heine evidence – their argument assumes we should not investigate torture for the sake of political expediency – this assumption feeds the logic of ‘politics as usual’ that opens the door to future atrocities by bypassing accountability for the sake of political benefit.

Tournament: KCKCC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas BC | Judge: Kurt Fifelski

1. We meet – the plan is a restriction – the President is prohibited from making indefinite detention decisions – plan gives Congress the authority to make those decisions by creating a commission that defines the legal standards for detention – that’s BCJ.

2. We meet – the plan creates legal prohibitions that make it illegal for the President to actively bypass Congressional involvement in indefinite detention decisions – under penalty of law, the executive branch must turn over witnesses and testimony to support detention of suspects.

3. Counterinterpretation – restrictions are prohibitive regulations.
Northglenn 11 (City of Northglenn Zoning Ordinance, “Rules of Construction – Definitions”, http://www.northglenn.org/municode/ch11/content_11-5.html)
Section 11-5-3….permit or license.

4. We meet – the plan is a prohibitive regulation – it makes the President’s authority and activity in the area of indefinite detention subject to the regulation and prohibitive control of an investigatory commission established by act of Congress.

5. Prefer the Counterinterpretation – a prohibition alone establishes no limit on the function that those prohibitions can serve.  Requiring the AFF to regulate specific activities that are the subject of the prohibition ensures quality negative ground and more predictability since the affirmative will be tied to a specific regulation and activity.

6. Competing Interpretations Bad – creates a race to the bottom to find the most limiting interpretation that destroys in-depth debates about topic-specific controversies.

7. Reasonability is Key – no in round abuse, we don’t spike out of any of their links.  Don’t vote on potential abuse – destroys clash by inviting judge intervention.

Tournament: Wake | Round: 2 | Opponent: UCO BH | Judge: Loghry
(The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, “Remarks by the President at the National Defense University”, May 23, 2013, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/23/remarks-president-national-defense-university)
PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Good…States of America.

Contention One – Presidentialism

Justifications for presidential war powers institutionalize a myth of super-heroism, promising hopeful redemption in the face of perceived threats to national security. Constant shifts between empathy and bluster form an expansionist ideology that uses crises as key moments and practical opportunities to assert authoritarian rule.  Identifying exceptional circumstances where war powers are justified creates an image of benign leadership that slowly eats away at the capacity for critical thinking and awareness.

Our primary responsibility is to cultivate critical awareness and strategic resistance to the permanent expansion of the imperial presidency.  Voting affirmative is an invitation to imagine things differently – to refuse uncritical acceptance of the president’s ability to resolve social problems on our behalf and instead take part in creating a new consciousness that contains our willingness to delegate responsibility for change onto institutional others.
Healy 8 (Gene, senior editor at the Cato Institute, Contributing Editor Liberty Magazine, J.D., University of Chicago Law School, “The Cult of the Presidency”, Reason Magazine, June, http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/cult-presidency)
The chief executive… of the presidency.

The Obama administration has transformed the cult of the presidency into a loaded weapon in an extra-constitutional arms race for control of life – the promise of executive salvation can never fully resolve our needs and yet such promises further solidify the presidency’s dominance over the political.
Healy 12 (Gene, senior editor at the Cato Institute, Contributing Editor Liberty Magazine, J.D., University of Chicago Law School, “Obama Has Taken the Cult of the Presidency to a Whole New Level”, Reason Magazine, 10/23, http://reason.com/archives/2012/10/23/obama-has-taken-the-cult-of-the-presiden)
In the spring…presidents to wield.

Presidential war powers inflate the cult of the presidency – painting areas for presidential responsibility gives the expansion of wartime authority a dangerous twist.  Treating the president as the symbol and solution for the nation’s woes creates rising expectations for authority, expectations that manifest themselves in unlimited adventurism and abuse.
Bandow 8 (Doug, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, specializing in foreign policy and civil liberties, former special assistant to President Reagan, “The Cult of the Presidency”, 6/14, http://original.antiwar.com/doug-bandow/2008/06/13/the-cult-of-the-presidency/)
Alas, both parties…presidential adventurism abroad.”

Democide is the ultimate impact – it is the equivalent of nuclear war, it sanctions all forms of violence and is responsible for the vast majority of history’s death and destruction.
Rummel 94 (RJ, Professor Emeritus at University of Hawaii, “Death By Government”, http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DBG.CHAP1.HTM)
Power kills, absolute…of the Dead. .

Selective endorsement of the AFF fails – the counterplan reinforces the permanent state of war by seeing restrictions as a break on progress – this unleashes the president’s ability to engage in permanent warfare under the pretense of doing the nation’s great work.
Healy 8 (Gene, senior editor at the Cato Institute, Contributing Editor Liberty Magazine, J.D., University of Chicago Law School, The Cult of the Presidency, pp. 11-13)
In the chapters…concentration of power.

Permanent war conditions our society around aggression and fear – this system of living is fundamentally unsustainable.  Hiding behind the façade of strength is only the monster of destruction.
Hedges 9 (Chris, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years, part of the team of reporters at The New York Times awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism, senior fellow at The Nation Institute and has taught at Columbia and Princeton, “The Disease of Permanent War”, Truthdig, 5/18, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090518_the_disease_of_permanent_war/)
The embrace by... behind the facade. 

Presidentialism thrives on our expectations that the president will exercise super-hero powers to resolve the nation’s ills.  Each legitimizing instance of the president’s accomplishments, whether in the form of warfighting, legislative achievements or progressive unilateral action, serves to reinforce the unlimited expansion of executive power.  Selective skepticism towards presidential authority doesn’t go far enough to challenge our intellectual investment in presidentialism.
Leef 8 (George, research director of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, former adjunct professor of law and economics, Northwood University, and former scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, “The Cult of Executive Power”, The Future of Freedom Foundation, 6/1, http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/cult-executive-power/)
In The Cult…be a disaster.

PLAN

The United States Congress should eliminate the war powers authority of the President of the United States in the topically-designated areas.

Contention Two – Civic Participation

Decentering presidentialism requires an activation of the radical potential to re-orient individual and collective politics.  Reject the symbolism of executive power that gives the President super-hero capabilities – our advocacy allows us to mold radical proposals by imagining and debating differently.  Use this debate space to imagine a different world of governmental power where we adopt do-able proposals like the plan as a jumping off point for acts of civic participation that de-center centralized presidential authority.
Nelson 12 (Dana, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, “Barriers against Democracy: Rethinking the Nation’s Founding: An Interview with Dana Nelson”, Spectra: The Aspect Journal, Interview conducted by Yanka Petkova, Reed Taylor, and Mike Butera,  Virginia Tech University, 11/17, http://spectrajournal.org/2012/11/17/barriers-against-democracy-rethinking-the-nations-founding-an-interview-with-dana-nelson/)
Q: What was the…of the world.

Its try or die for the affirmative’s method.  The negative’s framework interpretation eradicates the space for civic agency and radically democratic practice – willfully turning our agency over to a political representative sustains the centralization of power that makes political activism wholly ineffective and actively participates in the de-politicization of the debate space.  Vote affirmative to re-energize our model of agency that actively participants in the construction of new thought and practice.
Nelson 12 (Dana, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, “Barriers against Democracy: Rethinking the Nation’s Founding: An Interview with Dana Nelson”, Spectra: The Aspect Journal, Interview conducted by Yanka Petkova, Reed Taylor, and Mike Butera,  Virginia Tech University, 11/17, http://spectrajournal.org/2012/11/17/barriers-against-democracy-rethinking-the-nations-founding-an-interview-with-dana-nelson/)
One of the…expect some success.

No matter the form, unilateral presidential action reinforces presidentialism by providing ideological ammunition for the conservative expansion of unitary executive theory – only demanding Congressional action solves.
Nelson 8 (Dana, professor of American studies at Vanderbilt University, “The ‘unitary executive’ question”, LA Times, 10/11, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-nelson11-2008oct11,0,224216.story#axzz2k1XHH2wX)
Plenty of presidents…pressure and scrutiny.

Presidentialism robs us of our political agency to engage in politics on a daily level.  The question is NOT which president is in office or whether or not the president exercises activism or restraint, but rather how we use this debate space to nurture and cultivate the critical sensibilities that animate our everyday experience.  Democracy is our job and engaging in self-governing political debates overcomes our obsession with presidentialism and allows us to reclaim our politicalness.
Nelson 6 (Dana, Professor of English and American Studies at Vanderbilt University, “The President and Presidentialism”, South Atlantic Quarterly, 105(1), Winter)
The convergence of…arguments of others.

Tournament: UTD | Round: 5 | Opponent: Missouri State CR | Judge: Alex Bonnet
The war powers authority of the President of the United States in the topically-designated areas should be abolished.