Executive Branch
Just Security’s expert authors provide analysis of the U.S. executive branch related to national security, rights, and the rule of law. Analysis and informational resources focus on the executive branch’s powers and their limits, and the actions of the president, administrative agencies, and federal officials.
4,605 Articles
Getting the Jay Treaty Right on “Executive Privilege”
A central historical claim in ongoing debates about the president's ability to keep diplomatic correspondence from the House of Representatives is not just flawed, but gets the…
Know Your Rights: Conversations with Congress
Federal employees have the right to communicate with Congress free from intimidation, bullying and unfair harassment.
Ukraine Prosecutor General Announces Audit of Cases Including Firm Linked to Hunter Biden
The Prosecutor General’s announcement comes within twelve hours of the release of text messages showing U.S. diplomats working behind the scenes to advance President Donald Trump…
Trump’s Extortion of Ukraine Is an Impeachable Abuse of Power
The publicly known facts about President Trump’s interactions with Ukraine constitute a prima facie case for impeachment based on abuse of presidential power.
For Scientific Integrity in Government, Fix Political Appointments Process
The Brennan Center's National Task Force on Rule of Law and Democracy recommends ways to rein in abuses by converting long-held norms into law.
Ukrainian Funding Delay Created a Paper Trail That Congress Should Follow
The Office of Management and Budget prevented the release of the Ukraine funding through its apportionment authority, a bureaucratic process that necessarily creates a paper trail.
Pompeo’s Letter Is the Trump Administration’s Opening Salvo of Obstruction
The Trump administration now seems to be reverting to its previous strategy of total obstruction based on maximalist interpretations of executive authority.
Greg Craig: The Government’s Latest Swing at FARA Enforcement & What Comes Next
In an offshoot of the Paul Manafort case in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, former Obama White House counsel and veteran Washington lobbyist Greg Craig was acquitted…
Deciphering the Pompeo-House Clash Over Witnesses
Top congressional oversight expert breaks it down — what are the competing claims, and which ones are stronger or weaker?
There Is No Constitutional Impediment to an Impeachment Inquiry that Concerns National Security
The Constitution assigns the House of Representatives the impeachment power precisely to address situations where an urgent national security risk means accountability can’t…
On the Principle of Non-Use of Force in Current International Law
[Editor’s note from co-editor-in-chief Ryan Goodman: Just Security publishes, on very rare occasions, a long form analysis by a leading scholar or other expert on an important…
Trump Goes Full Putin—Capitulation Inside the Oval Office
Trump's following Putin's whataboutism not simply for public consumption. He’s apparently internalized it and turned it against the United States.