She says that because Alito endorsed the Reagan administration’s view of a unitary executive, he therefore endorsed its view of the scope of executive powers. It’s not true, and she is rather studiously ignoring the fact that the Alito speech she is citing said nothing of the sort.

It’s also worth noting that the unitary executive theory would preclude the assertion of the kind of dubious legal privileges that Nolan’s colleagues in the Clinton administration sought. As Alito said in his speech, the unitary executive theory would not just expand presidential powers (over the executive functions of the government) but also increase presidential accountability.