Install
The Administration blog
Eleven Questions About Presidential Power, Answered From Article II Executive orders, firings, pardons, privilege, emergencies and immunity. Eleven questions citizens ask about the president, answered from the text. The Acting Officials Who Run Agencies Without the Senate's Consent Who may run a federal agency while its top job sits empty? The Appointments Clause, the Vacancies Act and two Supreme Court cases answer. The Small White House Office That Reads Every Major Rule Before You Do How OIRA, created in 1980, reviews major federal rules, why both parties kept it, and why cost-benefit analysis is a conservative tool worth defending. Schedule F Is Really a Fight Over Who Answers to the Voters The Schedule F fight is a fight over whether an elected President can direct the executive branch Article II gives him, and the answer starts with the text. Commander in Chief Means Less Than Presidents Claim and More Than Critics Say The Commander in Chief Clause gives a president command of forces Congress raises and the power to repel attacks, but not a general power to start wars. The Take Care Clause Was Written Against Kings Who Suspended the Laws The president's duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed was written to forbid the royal power to suspend and dispense with laws. Federalist 70 Read Closely, Hamilton's Case for Energy in One Executive Hamilton's Federalist 70 explains why one accountable president beats a council, and why knowing whom to blame is the heart of free government. The Executive Power Shall Be Vested in a President, and Every Word Counts Article II gives all of the executive power to one elected person, and that means the president must be able to fire the officers who wield it.