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Executive overreach

newsom

Executive overreach

COVID-19 Is Leading State Lawmakers To Finally Restrain Governors' Emergency Powers

Even during a pandemic, major changes to laws and policies should be funneled through state assemblies.

Scott Shackford | 4.14.2021 1:25 PM

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Housing Policy

The CDC Keeps Extending Its Illegal Eviction Ban

The agency will be extending its controversial eviction moratorium through the end of June.

Christian Britschgi | 3.29.2021 3:20 PM

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Joe Biden

Biden's Orders Continue the Presidency's Slide Toward Elective Monarchy

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.

J.D. Tuccille | 2.1.2021 10:45 AM

Executive Power

Will President Biden Have Greater Control Over Independent Agencies than His Predecessors?

A newly released OLC opinion asserts the White House can require independent agencies to comply with Executive Orders on regulatory review.

Jonathan H. Adler |The Volokh Conspiracy | 12.31.2020 3:30 PM

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Joe Biden

Biden Acknowledges Constitutional Limits to the Power of the Presidency

That’s a rare position for modern White House residents, and not necessarily a popular one with the public.

J.D. Tuccille | 12.23.2020 10:00 AM

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Reason Roundup

Trump Outlaws Ugly Federal Buildings

Plus: House OKs bloated $1.4 trillion spending package, new Amash bills aim to protect asylum seekers and immigrant detainees, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 12.22.2020 9:33 AM

UntitledSheriffs

Reason Roundup

More Cops Say They Won't Enforce Coronavirus Curfews

Plus: Biden definitely wins Georgia, Alaskans approve ranked-choice voting, Facebook faces next antitrust lawsuit, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 11.20.2020 9:39 AM

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Executive Power

Biden and Trump Now Agree: The President Has No Authority To Impose a Nationwide Mask Mandate

If only that signaled a broader respect for legal limits on executive power.

Jacob Sullum | 9.18.2020 1:45 PM

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Reason Roundup

The Messy TikTok Sale Is What Happens When Governments Get Involved in Social Media

Plus: More red states may get legal weed, antitrust action against Google expected this week, the Cuties controversy, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.14.2020 9:35 AM

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Reason Roundup

Court Thwarts Trump's Attempt To Exclude Undocumented Immigrants From Census

Plus: Raleigh cop uses fake evidence in drug cases, caution on CDC study linking restaurants to COVID-19 cases, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.11.2020 9:32 AM

Rule of law

Repairing the Rule of Law: A Post-Trump Agenda

A list of reforms to help restore the rule of law in a post-Trump Washington.

Jonathan H. Adler |The Volokh Conspiracy | 9.8.2020 1:29 PM

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Technology policy

Mike Godwin, the Creator of Godwin's Law, Is Suing Trump Over His TikTok Executive Order

"I know what moral panics look like; they look kind of like this."

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 8.24.2020 7:30 PM

Trump-press-conference-WH

Presidential Power

Trump's Naked Megalomania Continues a Bipartisan Trend

Will his blunt self-aggrandizement reinvigorate concerns about presidents who exceed their powers?

Jacob Sullum | 8.5.2020 12:01 AM

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Reason Roundup

Trump's Illegal, Impossible Plan to Teach Twitter a Lesson

Plus: unrest in Minneapolis, Twitter labels Trump tweet, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 5.29.2020 10:05 AM

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Donald Trump

Trump Is Gutting the Inspector General System, and Most Republicans Don't Care

Congress created inspectors general to be watchdogs, but it's too weak-willed to protect those watchdogs from retaliation.

C.J. Ciaramella | 5.20.2020 2:30 PM

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Coronavirus

Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex Speech in the Age of Coronavirus

The 1961 speech by President Dwight Eisenhower foreshadowed the current government's response to COVID-19.

Lex Villena | 5.6.2020 2:00 PM

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Reason Roundup

Trump Claims He Has 'Total' Authority Over When States End Social Distancing Rules. He's Wrong.

Plus: Americans plan to stay home for months, courts block more abortion bans, Amash "looking closely" at presidential run, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 4.14.2020 9:30 AM

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Donald Trump

Trump Has Secret Emergency Powers?

"Presidential emergency action documents” concocted under prior administrations purport to give him such authority, according to a New York Times op-ed.

Ronald Bailey | 4.12.2020 6:15 PM

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Michael Bloomberg

If Bloomberg's Arrogance Worries You, His Weaselly Positions on Presidential Power Won't Reassure You

The presidential candidate reserves the right to wage unauthorized wars, kill Americans in foreign countries, prosecute journalists, and selectively flout the law.

Jacob Sullum | 2.28.2020 2:00 PM

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Michael Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg and the Imperious Presidency

Until we start denuding the Oval Office, we will continue getting the royals we deserve.

Matt Welch and Lex Villena | 2.13.2020 2:44 PM

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Politics

Michael Bloomberg and the Imperious Presidency

Until we start denuding the Oval Office, we will continue getting the royals we deserve.

Matt Welch | 2.7.2020 7:30 AM

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War

Sarah Sanders 'Can't Think of Anything Dumber Than Allowing Congress To Take Over Our Foreign Policy'

The former press secretary thinks abiding by the Constitution would be the worst thing for America right now.

Christian Britschgi | 1.9.2020 9:50 AM

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Impeachment

More Impeachments! Dumping Bad Presidents Should Be No Big Deal

"Somehow we've decided that the one job in America that gets the most job protection is the one where you actually get nuclear weapons," says the Cato Institute's Gene Healy.

Meredith Bragg | 12.20.2019 12:06 PM

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Impeachment

Don't Freak Out About Impeachment

Americans can lose their jobs for almost anything. Why are we so hesitant to give presidents the boot?

Gene Healy | 12.20.2019 6:00 AM

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Executive Power

Trump's Audacious Immunity Claim

His desperate attempt to stop a grand jury from seeing his tax returns invokes kingly powers that would put the president above the law.

Jacob Sullum | 11.6.2019 12:01 AM

topicsfuture

Future

Impeachment Is Both the Cause and the Effect of a Too-Powerful Presidency

If, at the end of all this, President Mike Pence sits behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office, what has been accomplished?

Katherine Mangu-Ward | 11.2.2019 6:00 AM

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Immigration

Courts Rule That Trump's Immigration Orders Are an Abuse of His Executive Authority

They are correct.

Shikha Dalmia | 10.15.2019 1:00 PM

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Impeachment

John Yoo Warns That Impeachment Would Undermine Presidential Power. That's the Point.

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.

Jacob Sullum | 9.26.2019 11:30 AM

Joe-Biden-presidential-debate-9-10-19-Newscom

War

Here Is What the 2020 Candidates Say About the President's Power to Wage War Without Congressional Approval

The strongest critics of unilateral decisions to attack other countries include Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders, while Joe Biden thinks anything goes.

Jacob Sullum | 9.11.2019 10:40 AM

Harris-and-Trump

Presidential Power

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump Unite to Defend the Imperial Presidency

The senator and the president she wants to unseat are determined to have their way, regardless of what the law says.

Jacob Sullum | 7.3.2019 12:01 AM

Cory-Booker-5-2-19-Newscom

Gun Control

What's Wrong With Licensing Gun Owners?

Cory Booker’s plan would unjustly deprive peaceful Americans of the fundamental right to armed self-defense.

Jacob Sullum | 5.8.2019 12:01 AM

Judge Napolitano Obstruction Interview

Donald Trump

Judge Andrew Napolitano: President Trump Obstructed

The libertarian legal analyst says Trump, like his White House predecessors, has abused executive power in all sorts of ways.

Nick Gillespie, Ian Keyser, and Meredith Bragg | 5.3.2019 1:54 PM

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Gun Control

If Congress Does Not Change Federal Gun Laws, Kamala Harris Promises, She Will Do It by Presidential Fiat

The California senator claims she could impose "near-universal background checks" and close the "boyfriend loophole" without new legislation.

Jacob Sullum | 4.23.2019 5:00 PM

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Police Abuse

Gravity Knives, Bump Stocks, and Lawless Law Enforcement

New York cops and the president arbitrarily turn legal products into contraband.

Jacob Sullum | 4.3.2019 12:01 AM

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Gun Control

Donald Trump's Bump Stock Ban Turns Peaceful Gun Owners Into Felons by Fiat

The ban, which took effect this week, usurps congressional authority by rewriting an inconvenient law.

Jacob Sullum | 3.28.2019 1:55 PM

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Executive Power

Congress Grows a Spine

Thank Donald Trump for the belated attempt to enforce the Constitution's separation of powers.

Jacob Sullum | 3.20.2019 12:01 AM

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Reason Podcast

Strange New Respect for…Nancy Pelosi?: Podcast

We live in desperate times when the brake on both Democratic socialism and Republican executive-branch abuse is a 78-year-old San Francisco Democrat.

Matt Welch | 3.4.2019 3:00 PM

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Trump Administration

House Votes to Terminate Trump's National Emergency

Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash joined with Democrats to oppose the president's power grab.

Christian Britschgi | 2.26.2019 6:36 PM

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Donald Trump

Once a Critic of Executive Power, Trump Is Now Taking Us Closer to Rule by Decree

Bargaining over policy is supposed to be frustrating. That's a feature, not a bug, of limited government.

J.D. Tuccille | 2.19.2019 10:00 AM

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FCC

In a State of Emergency, the President Can Control Your Phone, Your TV, and Even Your Light Switches

Under a little-known regulation that dates back to the 1930s, the president has legal power over electronic transmissions.

Michael Socolow | 2.15.2019 3:30 PM

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Reason Roundup

How to Go From Government Shutdown to National Emergency in Just Two Weeks: Reason Roundup

Plus: Congress forgets to fund the First Step Act, The New York Times chastises smug politicians over Amazon, and what if the U.S. were 100 city-states?

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 2.15.2019 9:30 AM

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Law

Gorsuch Challenges Blank Check for the U.S. Attorney General

A case to watch for both criminal justice reformers and for critics of executive overreach.

Damon Root | 12.20.2018 6:00 AM

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