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Executive Power blog
Five vetoes Congress overrode and what each showed about presidential powerCongress overrode Republican presidents on war powers, open records, clean water, civil rights and defense. Each defeat teaches something about Article I.Chevron Is Gone, and Here Is What Loper Bright Changed for EveryoneIn 2024 the Supreme Court ended a 40-year rule that told judges to defer to agencies. Here is what that rule was and what changes for businesses and families.United States v. Nixon and What the Court Really Said About Executive PrivilegeBoth parties quote the 1974 tapes case. The ruling is narrower than the slogan, and it protects the presidency more than most people think.Congress Should Write the Laws, and Other Radical Ideas From Article IArticle I gives Congress all the lawmaking power. The nondelegation argument says it cannot hand that job away. Here is the case, the cases and the objection.Who Decides on War? The Constitution, the 1973 Law and the Gray ZoneThe Constitution splits war powers between Congress and the president, and practice blurred the line. Here is the story in order, with both best arguments.Who Declares War? What the Founders Meant and Where We DriftedThe Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. Since 1950 the practice has drifted toward the president. The text, the founders' fights, and the fix.Why a Republican Congress Wrote the 22nd Amendment After Four Terms of FDRThe two-term limit was written by Republicans after FDR's four elections, and its exact text settles most of the arguments people have about it.Garland v. Cargill and why an agency cannot rewrite a law by redefining a wordThe ATF reversed itself on bump stocks and changed what the law meant without a vote. The Supreme Court said no, and every administration should listen.Madison's Plan for a Government That Fights Itself on PurposeFederalist No. 51 explains why the Constitution pits branch against branch, and why both parties love that design the moment they lose an election.Madison Built a Government Where Ambition Fights Ambition, and It WorksThe Founders split power three ways and gave each branch the motive to resist the others, which is why conservatives defend the structure whoever is in office.Power Tends to Corrupt, and Conservatives Should Remember It When They Hold ItLord Acton's warning from 1887 is the conservative case against concentrated power, and it applies to every administration, including one led by your own party.Justice Jackson's Three-Box Test for Presidential Power, Put to WorkOne 1952 concurrence gives any citizen a way to judge a president's action. Learn the three boxes, then run three hypothetical orders through them.Loan Forgiveness, the Strongest Case for It and Why It Still FailsThe best argument for cancelling student debt, answered point by point: Article I, the HEROES Act, Biden v. Nebraska, fairness and price.When a President Writes Immigration Law With a Memo, DACA and DAPAWhatever you think of Dreamers, their status should be settled by a law and not a memo, and the history of DACA and DAPA shows why.From Application to Revocation, the Thirteen-Year Saga of Keystone XLA pipeline was never voted down, yet it died after thirteen years. Here is the dated timeline and why a border crossing needs a president's permit.Why Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock in 1957Eisenhower sent paratroopers to Little Rock to enforce a court order, and the conservative lesson is that the rule of law binds governors too.Pardon Power Questions Answered, From Washington to Ex parte GarlandPlain answers to what people ask about presidential clemency: the text, the cases from 1866 and 1915, famous uses, and what the power cannot reach.Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon and paid for it at the ballot boxFord ended the Watergate story with one signature and lost votes for it, and the conservative case is that the country was worth the price.Who Can Fire the Regulators? A Timeline From Myers to Seila LawCan a president fire the heads of independent agencies? Dated cases from the Decision of 1789 to Seila Law in 2020 show how the answer took shape.Chester Arthur was a machine politician who gave America its civil serviceEveryone expected Arthur to defend the spoils system. He signed the Pendleton Act instead, and its trade-off still frames every fight over federal jobs.How Washington learned to budget, from the 1921 act to the 1997 dealEach major budget law answered the last failure. Dated entries from 1921 to 1997 show what each one fixed, what it broke, and what the pattern tells us.Nixon Impounded the Money, Congress Fought Back, and the 1974 Law Still RulesMust a president spend what Congress appropriates? The law that governs the answer was written against Richard Nixon and still decides spending fights.