Senator Leahy’s questioning about executive authority — like much of the public debate over executive authority — seems ungrounded in any longstanding understanding of executive power. I believe it is incontrovertible that some element of the President’s authority as Commander-in-Chief is beyond direct Congressional control. The key issue is whether a given exercise of executive authority — whether surveillance, detention, troop deployment, or something else — lies within that core of inherent authority. As Justice Jackson’s Youngstown Steel opinion made clear, the President’s authority is at it lowest ebb when the President acts contrary to a Congressional enactment, but it is not reduced to zero. For instance, I think most would agree that Congress could not use legislation to direct tactical troop movements in the course of a military campaign. Not only would this be impractical, but it would be an unconstitutional infringement on Presidential power. This does not mean the President is “above the law.” Rather, it means that the law — as embodied in the Constitution — recognizes that not all executive authority is subject to Congressional constraint. Judge Alito is unlikely to say this directly — as his Senate questioners would not like to hear that their power is limited — but that does not make it any less so.
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The Starbucks Protesters Took a Page out of Al Sharpton’s Book
By Jim Geraghty
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The Starbucks ...
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The Media Create a Schrödinger’s Presidency
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What I found, in the timeline I created, revealed a great deal about the way political news and analysis are produced and consumed in an era when a hunger for chaos, ...
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Why Does Russia Build So Many Doomsday Weapons?
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Enoch Powell’s Immigration Speech, 50 Years Later
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Goldberg, God, and Human Rights
Jonah Goldberg opens his National Review cover story, an excerpt from his new book, with some provocative assertions:
I want to offer amendments to three of Jonah’s claims in this passage.
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N.Y. Attorney General Moves to Constrain Trump’s Pardon Power
By Jack Crowe
New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman is advocating a change to the state's double-jeopardy laws that would allow him and other local prosecutors to bring charges against individuals pardoned by President Donald Trump, according to a letter he sent to the governor and state legislators Wednesday.
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A Trump Trade and Economic Doctrine
By Reihan Salam
If the Treasury Department’s recent semiannual report is any guide, the Trump administration still doesn’t quite get it when it comes to trade imbalances. “The US government has all the tools it needs to achieve balanced trade without risking a trade war,” writes Joseph Gagnon for the Peterson Institute ...
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Oxford Cancels Weed-Themed Party amid ‘Cultural Appropriation’ Concerns
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The Comey–Trump Dance
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