Debates over the proper scope of executive power in the United States have been a feature of U.S. law and politics dating back to before the nation’s founding. Article II of the Constitution vests the president with “the executive power” and the power to act as the military’s Commander in Chief, but the post-9/11 presidency has been characterized as a striking expansion of executive power, particularly in the area of national security.
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The Monroe Doctrine is a momentous example of the president’s vast constitutional power to set and communicate U.S. foreign policy—to include threatening war.
Wednesday’s vote was a major victory for opponents of the Yemen war. The reason has less to do with the legislation and more to do with the vote itself.
The Military Times reported on Nov. 21 that a White House memorandum had authorized the use of force by troops stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Chief of Staff John Kelly reportedly raised concerns over the constitutionality of the authorization, Politico writes.
The president shouldn’t hold his breath for the court to have any serious objections to the special counsel’s appointment.
On Monday, the Congressional Research Service published the following report on the 25th Amendment and the many controversies around its treatment of presidential disability.
Nov. 4 is the anniversary of, by some measures, the U.S. military’s worst battlefield defeat ever—an incident that says a great deal about executive and legislative use of military power in the early republic.
Courts should put the burden on prosecutors to prove that the president did not influence their charging decision—or grant defendants a limited discovery to seek evidence to the contrary.
Just as presidents respond in various ways to norms, so, too, do they react to changes in the legal structure with direct political and governing implications.
Internal limits within Article II constrain the president to act only with good faith and due care.
Having been fired from the executive branch, former Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox offered his services to the judicial branch.