From the Monroe Doctrine to Maduro: The Precedent Problem in U.S.

"As both Secretary of War and Secretary of State under Theodore Roosevelt, he helped design the institutions and doctrines that carried the United States from a continental republic into the role of a global actor. He professionalized the Army after the Spanish-American War, imposed civilian and legal structure on an expanding military, and spent much of his career attempting to bind America's power to durable norms before habit hardened into entitlement."

"In January, the Trump administration carried out an operation that resulted in Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro being taken into U.S. custody and transferred to Florida to face federal narcoterrorism charges. The action was legally defensible under existing statutes and drew intense attention at home, dividing domestic opinion. It was also the kind of operation Root would have recognized as dangerous-not because it violated the law, but because it normalized the use of military force as an instrument of policy once legal justification could be established."

"Root confronted this problem directly in 1906, when he offered a sentence that has since been quoted far more often than it has been examined: "The United States is practically sovereign on this continent, and its fiat is law upon the subjects to which it confines its interposition." Read in isolation, the line can sound jingoistic, a blunt declaration of national entitlement. Root intended something narrower and more cautionary. He was describing a condition of power, not endorsing it."

Elihu Root warned that American power was outrunning institutions meant to govern it. Root served as Secretary of War and Secretary of State under Theodore Roosevelt and helped design institutions and doctrines that transitioned the United States from a continental republic to a global actor. He professionalized the Army after the Spanish-American War, imposed civilian and legal structure on an expanding military, and worked to bind American power to durable norms before habit hardened into entitlement. A recent U.S. operation that detained Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Florida was legally defensible yet normalized military force as policy. Root warned that legality cannot substitute for judgment because unchecked dominance undermines legitimacy.

Read at The Cipher Brief