A Discussion of Congressional Legal Issues
Today the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) voted, 8-5 along party lines, to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions before the committee. The HSGAC resolution provides: Resolved, That pursuant to sections 102 and 104 of the Revised Statutes (2 U.S.C. 192, 194), the President of Continue reading "Dr. Fauci, Senator Paul, and…
I will have a lot to say about the unitary executive in the coming weeks. I am less interested in relitigating whether the Supreme Court s view of the unitary executive, as most recently explained in Trump v. Slaughter, is the correct one, and more interested in figuring out what this decision means as a practical Continue reading "Madison, the Comptroller of the Treasury, and the Unitary…
The Office of Legal Counsel recently declared that the Presidential Records Act (PRA) “is unconstitutional, and the President need not further comply with its dictates.” 50 Op. OLC __, slip op. at 52 (Apr. 1, 2026). There was a time that when such a declaration would have generated major pushback in Congress. When in 2002 Continue reading "OLC s Attack on the Presidential Records Act is Not Worth…
On the Checks and Balances Substack, I have a piece on why and how Congress should conduct oversight of the abusive exercise of the pardon power. The post A Select Committee on Pardon Abuse first appeared on Point of Order .
A few months ago a group of six Democratic members of Congress, including Senator Mark Kelly, released a video reminding members of the military that they have a duty to “refuse illegal orders.” The senators and representatives, each of whom has a military or intelligence background, did not identify any particular orders that should be Continue reading "The Unitary Executive is Watching You" The…
During the December 8, 2025 oral argument in Trump v. Slaughter (involving the constitutionality of for cause limitations on the removal of FTC commissioners), Justice Barrett asked Slaughter’s counsel (Amit Agarwal) a question that is worth further exploration: JUSTICE BARRETT: Counsel, let me say let let s say, just assume, that I disagree with you about Continue reading "Justice Barrett,…
The Washington Post had an article this weekend that discusses the paucity of oversight hearings in the current Congress, noting that “administration officials testified more often before many committees during the first year of President Joe Biden’s term than they have this year.” The article mentions several areas where Democrats contend that more oversight is Continue reading "Can State…
Correction: Bannon and Navarro were not pardoned for contempt of Congress. Trump pardoned Bannon before leaving office in 2021, but that pardon did not cover Bannon s subsequent contempt of Congress. Navarro has not been pardoned at all. Thanks to @fedjudges on X for the correction. As you may have heard, James Comey, the former FBI Continue reading "Lindsey Halligan and the Unitary Executive" The…
Following up on my last post, I think an institutional position for Congress in the Slaughter case would look something like this. First, the Court can avoid addressing the precedential status of Humphrey’s Executor by holding that courts cannot intervene in a dispute regarding an officer’s purported removal from a multimember commission like the Federal Continue reading "An Outline of Congress s…
As you may have heard, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Trump v. Slaughter, a case in which a Federal Trade Commissioner whom President Trump purported to fire has sought reinstatement to her position. The Court directed the parties to brief two questions: (1) Whether the statutory removal protections for members of the Federal Continue reading "Who Will Represent Congress in Trump v.…