Presidential Powers

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U.S. President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders at his desk.

Trump’s Dictatorial Theory of Presidential Power – What the Executive Orders, in the Aggregate, Tell Us

Trump's recent executive actions appear to assert an authority to override or ignore federal legislation whenever it interferes with his policy aims.
The US Constitution with a gavel laid on it.

National Security Resilience and Reform: Trump 2.0 and Beyond

Beginning a national security reform process is not just necessary, but urgently demanded to break inertia and launch a new dynamic.
US Capitol building at sunset with moon

Congress Must Heed Koh’s Call to Surface Secret Law

Ensuring that any secret law-making in the executive branch gets disinfecting sunlight is uniquely important because of its potential to give legal cover for overbroad, unaccountable,…
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at the United Nations Signing Ceremony for the Paris Agreement.

Withdrawal from International Agreements: Toward a “Tailored Out”

The practical and political stakes of this admittedly esoteric question of constitutional law are high, implicating as it does the effectiveness of the United States’ engagement…
The corner of the Harry S. Truman Federal Building's white facade with a shadow in the lower left corner.

Presidential Power to Exit Treaties: Reflecting on the Mirror Principle

On balance, a mirroring concept serves better as part of an aspiration for greater inter-branch cooperation in making and unmaking international agreements, rather than as a legally-enforceable…
Alternating American flags and United Nations flags, set around a pole, wave in the wind.

Confronting the War on International Law in the United States

Widespread ignorance and even fear of international law only cede the territory to those willing to wield it. For the interests of the United States, it is essential that Congress,…
A stylized globe map over which the words 'We the People' are imposed.

Symposium on Harold Hongju Koh’s ‘The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century’

Just Security is pleased to hold a symposium of leading experts engaging with Professor Harold Hongju Koh's recently-released The National Security Constitution in the 21st Century.
White House with red flowers in the foreground

Lifting Russia Sanctions – What Can a President Do Unilaterally?

Congress has imposed significant constraints on the president's ability to unilaterally lift sanctions imposed on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine in increasingly specific…
A collage of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (L) and Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R) speaking during a hearing on on the recent Supreme court decision in Trump v. United States on September 25, 2024.

A Confusing Rule for the Ages: A Review of the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Presidential Immunity

The Senate Judiciary Committee's presidential immunity hearing showed fault lines in reactions to the Trump v. United States decision.
White House with red flowers in the foreground

America’s Overlooked National Security Threat

The United States' deepest constitutional and national security challenge involves not personalities, but structure.
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 01: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks from the Blue Room balcony of the White House on August 1, 2022 in Washington, DC. Biden announced that over the weekend, U.S. forces launched an airstrike in Afghanistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Zawahiri, 71, took over leadership of al-Qaeda in 2011, shortly after American forces killed Osama bin Laden. The president said there were no civilian casualties. (Photo by Jim Watson-Pool/Getty Images)

A Presidential Proclamation to End the Iraq War: Unilateral Executive Action to Defang a Zombie AUMF

President Biden should proclaim the conflict authorized by the 2002 resolution to be over and determine that it is no longer “necessary and appropriate” to use force for the…

A Prudential Way Forward in Trump v. United States

"The Supreme Court, in Trump, provides the basis for ... a prudential approach going forward."
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