Rand Paul, Ron Wyden Want To End Endless National Emergencies
Under a bill the two senators reintroduced on Friday, all presidential emergency declarations would expire after 72 hours unless Congress votes to allow them to continue.
Under a bill the two senators reintroduced on Friday, all presidential emergency declarations would expire after 72 hours unless Congress votes to allow them to continue.
This action brings to an end a period when the US was more closed off to legal immigration than at any other time in the nation's history.
A 2000 OLC memo suggests the answer is "yes."
Presidents aren't saints. They aren't monarchs. They aren't celebrities. And they aren't your friends.
If the refusal of lawmakers to enact a president's policies is justification for unilateral executive action, then a slide toward elective monarchy is inevitable.
Partisans who abandon constitutional principles because they prove inconvenient are in for a rude surprise when the other team wins.
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Biden correctly recognizes he doesn't have the authority to impose a general national mask mandate. The same reasoning shows the nationwide eviction ban is also illegal.
The president acknowledges that there are limits to executive power, even during a public health emergency.
The Constitution's words, history, and structure suggest the best answer is no. He can't plead, "I beg my pardon."
Eviction bans were enacted as an emergency public health measure. They’re quickly becoming a permanent policy.
In a Thursday afternoon announcement, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) said Trump committed "an act of sedition" by inciting a riot on Wednesday afternoon.
I supported the previous impeachment of Trump, and would be happy to see him impeached and convicted now. But before proceeding, we should carefully consider how effective a new impeachment effort is likely to be.
The 45th president busted norms left and right. But the abuse of executive power didn't start and won't end with him.
This would prevent repetition of some of the shenanigans Trump has used to divert funds for his border wall project.
A newly released OLC opinion asserts the White House can require independent agencies to comply with Executive Orders on regulatory review.
Joe Biden can easily stop further work on the wall, protect property owners against further takings of private property, and save money in the process. Additional steps may be tougher, but are still worth considering.
President Trump's use of the pardon power confirms Anti-Federalist fears more than did his predecessors'.
Politics ruining your holidays? Now you can pay for the privilege.
That’s a rare position for modern White House residents, and not necessarily a popular one with the public.
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Current law can allow the president to route around Congress indefinitely.
A pardon is something granted, like a gift, and it is presumed one cannot grant something to themselves.
A "self-pardon" might bring about exactly the prosecution it seeks to avoid.
President Trump pardoned a turkey and an agent of Turkey. Will he give himself a lame duck pardon next?
Also: Thanksgiving tips and reasons for gratitude, from The Reason Roundtable
If Trump isn’t interested, maybe the Biden administration could get started with a few acts of mercy.
"It's time that we start thinking about reining in the powers that we've let slip to this institution," says the Cato Institute's Gene Healy.
Trump claimed the power to issue a national eviction moratorium during COVID. Could that pave the way for the mask mandates Biden clearly wants?
President-elect Joe Biden has promised to fully reinstate DACA. But such a move will surely be challenged in court. Here's an easy way to reduce the risk that such challenges might succeed.
All five cases were recommended to the White House by commutation recipient Alice Marie Johnson.
The implications of this move are as yet unclear.
As a professor, Judge Barrett expressed a skepticism of Executive Power that is uncommon among Republican nominees.
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The divided 2-1 decision is the first court of appeals ruling to rule on the legality of a key part of the funding diversion effort.
Mail-in ballots typically take days or sometimes weeks to be counted, so don't expect results on Election Night this year.
Giving one man control of all nuclear weapons is a mistake.
Whitmer helped spark a national debate over the limits of executive power.
The court concludes that the ban is illegal in large part because the broad authority claimed by the president violates the nondelegation doctrine.
Some possible answers to these questions from leading experts on the subject.
The opinion was written by prominent conservative Judge David Sentelle.
Under the broad terms of a 1934 federal law, the president has the authority to seize emergency control of almost any electronic device in the country.
The Trump presidency has been a stress test for maximalist theories of presidential power.
If only that signaled a broader respect for legal limits on executive power.
There’s nothing good about censoring communication platforms citizens want to use.
I coauthored it with Harvard Law School Professor Randall Kennedy.
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