Executive Power

Congress and ordinary citizens should take steps now to deter the Trump administration from destroying evidence of wrongdoing.

The last hundred days of the Trump presidency—if that’s the period we’re in—gives rise to a number of distinct concerns about the excesses of an lame-duck president of an unconventional disposition.

Congress is capable of enforcing executive branch subpoenas itself, without reliance on the courts. But it will require revisiting and reforming how it exercises its contempt powers.

The nation should never again rely on norms to ensure that presidents disclose their finances fully or to guard against conflicts of interest between public duties and private gain.