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
Just Security Podcast: ACLU’s David Cole on Defending our Democratic Traditions
Roughly a year ago, I sat down with ACLU Legal Director and Just Security editorial board member David Cole to pick his brain about what our various independent government branches…
Security Clearance Removals and Presidential Politicization of Intelligence
"The President has set a chilling precedent in threatening them with prejudicial action that could negatively impact on the confidence of intelligence officers in performing their…
A Path to Prosecuting President Trump
Justice Department regulations allow Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in “extraordinary circumstances,” to ask Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to approve a departure…
The Use of Child Spies by the UK
Is the UK's use of child spies consistent with its legal obligations, including under international law?
If Trump Revoked Critics’ Security Clearances, Could They Sue?
There’s a strong argument to be made that at least some constitutional challenges to the revocation of security clearances would be judicially reviewable.
Trump’s Order on Administrative Law Judges: Perhaps Insidious, Probably Harmless
A career civil service insulated from partisan retaliation has been a fixture of American government since the enactment of the Pendleton Act 135 years ago. Such a bureaucracy…
Low-Hanging Fruit: Responding to the Digital Evidence Challenge in Law Enforcement
Whether you believe law enforcement is “going dark” or we are in a “golden age of surveillance,” law enforcement faces serious challenges in identifying and accessing digital…
Launch Event – Low-Hanging Fruit: Evidence Based Solutions to the Digital Evidence Challenge
Tomorrow morning (Wednesday, July 25), from 8-10 am ET, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse — along with DOJ’s former Assistant Attorney General for National Security, David Kris…
The Real Target of Trump’s Security Clearance Threats
I can’t believe I’m writing a column in defense of former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former National Security…
U.S.-Russia Military Coop: Sec. Mattis Doesn’t Need Congress’ Permission, But Congress Has Control Options
"Some misunderstanding persists about the scope of the statutory prohibition on bilateral military-to-military cooperation with Russia, the relatively straightforward requirements…
Setting the Record Straight: The Pardon Power is Part of the Rule of Law
Writing from the perspective of a former federal prosecutor, Barbara McQuade decried President Donald Trump’s most recent exercise of the pardon power, which supposedly poses…
When the President is At War with the Presidency: Implications for Presidential Authority from Trump v. Hawaii
What is the relationship between the person of the president and the office of the presidency? That question lies at the crux of Trump v. Hawaii, though it remains largely unaddressed…