Why DACA Is Legal
The Trump administration's justification for rescinding DACA relies heavily on the claim that the program is illegal. But it's not.
The Trump administration's justification for rescinding DACA relies heavily on the claim that the program is illegal. But it's not.
His desperate attempt to stop a grand jury from seeing his tax returns invokes kingly powers that would put the president above the law.
If, at the end of all this, President Mike Pence sits behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office, what has been accomplished?
The decision is the first to address the legality of using the emergency declaration for this purpose. Previous wall cases involved Trump's attempts to redirect other funds.
In making the case against the House impeachment inquiry, the White House counsel relies upon a repudiated district court opinion that doesn't even support its argument.
"We believe the acts revealed publicly over the past several weeks are fundamentally incompatible with the president’s oath of office, his duties as commander in chief, and his constitutional obligation to 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed.'"
Thirteen legal scholars weigh in, including the VC's Keith Whittington and myself.
The president's threats might prevent future whistleblowers from coming forward to expose executive abuse.
Libertarian-leaning legislators have markedly different ideas about the I-word. What say the Reason editors?
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders convinced the Fifth Circuit to declare the Federal Housing Finance Agency's structure unconstitutional, but they're seeking Supreme Court review nonetheless.
While there may be sound political reasons to let voters decide Trump's fate, there are sound constitutional reasons to clarify the limits of his authority.
If Trump threatened to withhold aid funds in order to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden and his son, he undermined Congress' power of the purse. It's an important aspect of the Ukraine scandal that has so far been largely ignored.
The decision comes amidst allegations that President Trump pressured Ukraine into performing opposition research on Joe Biden.
As Trump's trade wars demonstrate, giving the president unilateral authority to impose tariffs is both dangerous and unconstitutional. Getting rid of it is likely to require a combination of litigation and political mobilization.
Again and again, the president tried to interfere with the Mueller investigation in a roundabout way.
Pending restrictions on vaping products in Michigan and New York are based on an alarmingly broad understanding of the executive branch's "public health" authority.
The presidential contender conspicuously fails to explain the legal basis for her plan to impose new restrictions by executive fiat.
The Democratic presidential field is not interested in your puny restraints on the executive branch.
Hopefully the White House can refrain from creating any new constitutional conundrums for a semester.
The strongest critics of unilateral decisions to attack other countries include Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders, while Joe Biden thinks anything goes.
Sen. Chuck Grassley and the Senate Finance Committee will debate two bills this fall aimed at restricting presidential authority to impose tariffs without congressional approval.
Even if Trump doesn’t follow through on his bad ideas, the uncertainty is still a drag.
In a testy exchange about immigration, the former vice president argued that Trump alone was the problem.
“It should have been easy for the Court to say goodbye to Auer.”
The ruling upholds a trial court decision holding that the president cannot divert military funds to builds his proposed border wall.
The senator and the president she wants to unseat are determined to have their way, regardless of what the law says.
The decisions expand on the same judge's earlier preliminary ruling holding that the president cannot reallocate military funds to build his border wall.
Today's ruling in Gundy v. United States allows Congress to delegate to the executive broad power to create new criminal offenses. But there is hope the Court might reconsider Gundy in the future.
India, unlike America, lacks checks against the designs of a populist authoritarian.
In a new report, the Treasury Department declares it will begin scrutinizing any nation that runs a bilateral trade imbalance of more than $40 billion with the United States
The United States is currently operating under 32 different national emergencies. This proposal would require Congress approve those declarations within 72 hours, and again after 90 days.
A letter signed by a wide range of scholars with different political and jurisprudential views urges Congress to sue to end illegal US involvement in the Yemen conflict.
Jamelle Bouie's counterintuitive recommendation would effectively eliminate constitutional limits on elected officials, including Trump and every demagogue who follows him.
The decision does not reach the merits of President Trump's attempt to divert military funds to build his border wall.
Free market reformers and authoritarian nationalists battle it out to reshape Brazil.
The symposium includes contributions by 16 legal commentators, including VC bloggers Keith Whittington and myself.
The first court decision on Trump's plan to reallocate federal funds to "build the wall" goes against the administration.
A federal judge rejects the President's attempt to block a Congressional subpoena of his financial records.
Plus: "Offending religious feelings" in Poland, Trump tax returns, the latest "heartbeat bill," Denver's mushroom measure, and more...
The libertarian legal analyst says Trump, like his White House predecessors, has abused executive power in all sorts of ways.
The Fox News legal analyst says the president is abusing executive power.
That's a potentially dangerous combination.
Reason editors discuss Russia, Biden, Moulton (?), and that television show with the dragons.
Forget about Donald Trump and the Mueller report and think about all the little (and not-so-little) people who get crushed by the feds.
The symposium includes contributions by a variety of legal commentators, including fellow VC blogger Keith Whittington and myself.
Extreme partisanship and the desire for power will play as big a role in saving Trump's presidency as his aides did by ignoring his orders.
Donald Trump's rhetoric is breathtakingly authoritarian, but so far he's done less than his predecessors to expand executive power.