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Published: 2008

Total Pages: 26

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On July 17, 2007, President Bush issued Executive Order 13,438, "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq." It is the latest in a series of executive orders based on the national emergency declared by President Bush with respect to "the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by obstacles to the orderly reconstruction of Iraq, the restoration and maintenance of peace and security in that country, and the development of political, administrative and economic institutions in Iraq." This report provides a brief history of the development of presidential powers in peacetime. It discusses some of the issues that might be raised in light of the contrast between the executive order's broad language and its narrow aim -- supplementation of sanctions applicable to Al-Queda and former Iraq regime officials to cover terrorists operating in Iraq. It examines the reach of the executive order and provides legal analyses of soem of the constitutional questions raised in the courts b similar sanctions programs, noting that the broad language of the executive order is not unprecedented. In view of the fact that there is an expectation that the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will publish names of persons designated under the executive order and issues regulations further refining its terms and applicability, the report examines some of the procedures available to challenge OFAC sanction regulations and briefly discusses OFAC's rules, which may be of concern to attorneys representing individuals and entities subjected to sanctions or involved in transactions with sanctioned persons.