The controversy surrounding President Trump’s attempted National Guard deployments to major U.S. cities is not merely a skirmish over public safety policy. It is a revealing moment about how power is exercised, justified, and constrained in a constitutional republic, and about what happens when political theater collides with historical and legal reality. At its core,…
When Due Process and National Security Collide
Last Friday, Judge Jia M. Cobb, who serves on the bench in D.C., handed down a ruling that essentially hit the brakes on President Trump’s expanded expedited removal policy. For years, expedited removal has been on the books as a kind of fast-track deportation system. It was limited in scope: if someone was caught within…
Trump and Recess Appointments
The possibility of President-elect Donald Trump using recess appointments to bypass Senate confirmation and fill his Cabinet has sparked heated debate. Recess appointments, a tool enshrined in the Constitution, allow a president to temporarily fill positions when the Senate is not in session. While this strategy has been used by presidents of both parties, its…