Rewriting the limits of presidential powers
The power of the president is enormous – and this president is not bashful in describing powers that go well beyond simple declarations.
In April, when discussing guidelines to be issued to governors about reopening states during the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump said, “When somebody is the President of the United States, the authority is total, and that’s the way it’s got to be – it’s total.”
There are, it’s true, some restraints on most presidential authority, but those might not apply to all the president’s powers.
As Mr. Trump stated in March, “I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about.”
We can’t know for sure, but what the president appears to have been referring to are his presidential emergency action documents, often referred to as PEADs. [Continue reading…]