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.
Executive overreach
The CDC Keeps Extending Its Illegal Eviction Ban
The agency will be extending its controversial eviction moratorium through the end of June.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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.
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."
Trump's Naked Megalomania Continues a Bipartisan Trend
Will his blunt self-aggrandizement reinvigorate concerns about presidents who exceed their powers?
Trump's Illegal, Impossible Plan to Teach Twitter a Lesson
Plus: unrest in Minneapolis, Twitter labels Trump tweet, and more...
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
Michael Bloomberg and the Imperious Presidency
Until we start denuding the Oval Office, we will continue getting the royals we deserve.
Michael Bloomberg and the Imperious Presidency
Until we start denuding the Oval Office, we will continue getting the royals we deserve.
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.
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.
Don't Freak Out About Impeachment
Americans can lose their jobs for almost anything. Why are we so hesitant to give presidents the boot?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
What's Wrong With Licensing Gun Owners?
Cory Booker’s plan would unjustly deprive peaceful Americans of the fundamental right to armed self-defense.
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.
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.
Gravity Knives, Bump Stocks, and Lawless Law Enforcement
New York cops and the president arbitrarily turn legal products into contraband.
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.
Congress Grows a Spine
Thank Donald Trump for the belated attempt to enforce the Constitution's separation of powers.
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.
House Votes to Terminate Trump's National Emergency
Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash joined with Democrats to oppose the president's power grab.
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.
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.
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?
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.