Unitary executive theory: Difference between revisions

[[Dick Cheney]] and the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|George W. Bush administration]] supported the theory.<ref name="Johnsen">{{cite journal |last=Johnsen |first=Dawn |author-link=Dawn Johnsen |date=April 2008 |title=What's a President To Do? Interpreting the Constitution in the Wake of Bush Administration Abuses |url=http://www.bu.edu/law/central/jd/organizations/journals/bulr/documents/JOHNSEN.pdf |journal=[[Boston University Law Review]] |volume=88 |page=395 |quote=On 363 occasions, President Bush objected to provisions that he found might conflict with the president's constitutional authority 'to supervise the unitary executive branch.'}}</ref> For example, Bush once wrote in a signing statement that he would, "construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power."<ref>{{cite news |last=Lazarus |first=Edward |date=January 5, 2006 |title=How Much Authority Does the President Possess When He Is Acting as 'Commander in Chief'? Evaluating President Bush's Claims Against a Key Supreme Court Executive Power Precedent |url=http://writ.news.findlaw.com/lazarus/20060105.html |work=FindLaw |quote=That signed statement shows, in microcosm, how the President sees the separation of powers: The President, in his view of the world, can interpret away constraints on his power, such as those in the McCain Amendment, or FISA before it. And the courts can hardly question his dubious 'interpretations' even if they gut the very statutes they construe: After all, there are 'constitutional limitations on the judicial power'—though not, apparently, on the power of the executive.}}{{Dead link|date=November 2024}}</ref> Critics acknowledge that part of the president's duty is to "interpret what is, and is not constitutional, at least when overseeing the actions of executive agencies"; at the same time, they accused Bush of overstepping that duty by his perceived willingness to overrule U.S. courts.<ref>{{cite news |last=Van Bergen |first=Jennifer |date=January 9, 2006 |title=The Unitary Executive: Is The Doctrine Behind the Bush Presidency Consistent with a Democratic State? |url=http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20060109_bergen.html |work=[[Findlaw]] |quote=In his view, and the view of his Administration, that doctrine gives him license to overrule and bypass Congress or the courts, based on his own interpretations of the Constitution. ...}}</ref> During his confirmation hearing to become an associate justice on the [[United States Supreme Court]], [[Samuel Alito]] seemed to endorse a weaker version of the unitary executive theory.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Liptak |first1=Adam |date=2006 |title=Few Glimmers of How Conservative Judge Alito Is |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/politics/politicsspecial1/few-glimmers-of-how-conservative-judge-alito-is.html |access-date=2 November 2017 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=A1 |authorlink=Adam Liptak}}</ref> [[Barack Obama]] campaigned against the theory but embraced some aspects of it after the [[2010 midterm elections]].<ref>{{Citation |last1=Dodds |first1=Graham G. |title=Presidential Leadership and the Unitary Executive Theory: Temptations and Troubles |date=2024 |work=Leadership and Politics |pages=545 |editor-last=Akande |editor-first=Adebowale |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-031-56415-4_22 |access-date=2024-07-18 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-56415-4_22 |isbn=978-3-031-56414-7 |last2=Kelley |first2=Christopher S.}}</ref>

[[Donald Trump]] exerted the greatest control over the executive during [[First presidency of Donald Trump|his presidency]] than any other modern president, often citing Article II of the Constitution. In 2019, he said, "I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president."<ref name="NYT Presidential Power2">{{cite news |last1=Swan |first1=Jonathan |last2=Savage |first2=Charlie |last3=Maggie |first3=Haberman |date=July 17, 2023 |title=Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html |access-date=December 6, 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><ref name="Dodds 2023 487–517" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Crouch |first1=Jeffrey |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1ft83xf |title=The Unitary Executive Theory: A Danger to Constitutional Government |last2=Rozell |first2=Mark J. |last3=Sollenberger |first3=Mitchel A. |date=2020 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0-7006-3004-2 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1ft83xf|jstor=j.ctv1ft83xf }}</ref> [[William Barr|Bill Barr]] notably supported the theory before his confirmation as attorney general in a 2018 memo criticizing the [[Mueller special counsel investigation|Russia probe]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Tom |date=2019-01-13 |title=Trump's attorney general pick raises fears of a president above the law |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/13/donald-trump-william-barr-attorney-general-senate-confirmation-robert-mueller |access-date=2024-07-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Deconstructed |date=2020-05-21 |title=Deconstructed Podcast: Is Bill Bar the Most Dangerous Trump Official? |url=https://theintercept.com/2020/05/21/is-bill-barr-the-most-dangerous-member-of-the-trump-administration/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=The Intercept |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Project 2025#Expansion of presidential powers|Project 2025 proposes]] using the theory as justification to give Trump or the next Republican president maximum control over the executive branch.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Wrona |first1=Aleksandra |last2=Nur |first2=Ibrahim |date=2024-07-11 |title=The Facts About Project 2025: The Pro-Trump Proposal To 'Reshape America' |url=https://www.snopes.com//news/2024/07/11/project-2025-explained/ |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=Snopes |language=en |quote=Project 2025 authors built their proposals on an idea popular during former President Ronald Reagan's time: the 'unitary executive theory.'...Overall, critics including legal experts and former government employees have zeroed in on Project 2025's goal to give the executive branch more power, describing it as a precursor to authoritarianism.}}</ref> The [[Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign#Expansion of executive and presidential power|Trump 2024 campaign platform includes an expansion of executive power]] grounded in this theory.<ref name="NYT Presidential Power">{{cite news |last1=Swan |first1=Jonathan |last2=Savage |first2=Charlie |last3=Maggie |first3=Haberman |date=July 17, 2023 |title=Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/us/politics/trump-plans-2025.html |access-date=December 6, 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The 2024 Supreme Court ruling [[Trump v. United States (2024)|Trump v. United States]] could make the president even more powerful, with some interpreting it as an endorsement of the unitary executive theory.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/trump-agenda-1720559568/ |title=The Project 2025 plan and Trump's links to its authors |date=July 9, 2024 |language=en |publisher=PBS News Hour |access-date=2024-07-11 |via=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Tucker |first=Eric |date=July 2, 2024 |title=Supreme Court opinion conferring broad immunity could embolden Trump as he seeks to return to power |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/supreme-court-opinion-conferring-broad-immunity-embolden-trump-111632671 |agency=Associated Press |quote='This is a full-throated endorsement of the unitary executive theory' in a dramatic way, said Cornell University law professor Michael Dorf, referring to the theory that the U.S. Constitution gives the president expansive control over the government’s executive branch.}}</ref>