Executive Functions Chat

Jack speaks with Matthew Seligman, a fellow at the Stanford Constitutional Law Center, about the remedial consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision invalidating tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. They walk through how tariff collection works, why repayment is not automatic, and the procedural hurdles importers face in trying to recover what they paid, includi...

Bob and Jack chat about a federal court’s preliminary injunction blocking the Defense Department’s attempt to reduce Senator Mark Kelly’s military retirement benefits, along with a grand jury’s refusal to indict six Democratic members of Congress, including Kelly, who in a video reminded service members of their duty to refuse unlawful orders. They discuss how Trump administration weaponization ca...

Jack speaks with Richard Ekins, professor of law and constitutional government at Oxford University, about the United Kingdom’s plan to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while leasing back the Diego Garcia naval base for continued U.S.–U.K. military use—an issue that has drawn renewed attention in recent weeks after President Trump publicly criticized the proposed agreement...

Bob and Jack talk about grievances from President Trump’s first term that continue to shape his second-term conduct. They examine the federal search warrant recently executed at a Fulton County election facility seeking 2020 ballots, including the structure and purpose of the investigation and the president’s asserted authority to use federal law enforcement in election matters. They also discuss...

Jack speaks with University of Virginia School of Law Professor Saikrishna Prakash about his new book, The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History . They discuss the origins of the pardon power, the framers’ anxieties about its breadth, controversies about its early use, how modern presidents have increasingly used clemency to advance ideological, political, and persona...

Jack and Bob examine President Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to ICE-related unrest in Minneapolis. They discuss the Act’s broad language, the uncertain scope of presidential discretion, the many unresolved constitutional questions that the Supreme Court might consider, and the political and legal risks of deploying troops domestically—particularly against the backdrop o...

Jack and Bob discuss the subpoena targeting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, the legal limits on presidential control of the Fed, Senate resistance, and the potential consequences for markets and the administration heading into the midterms. Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

Bob and Jack discuss the legality of the U.S. invasion of Venezuela leading to the capture President Nicolás Maduro, how law matters to presidential uses of force, and what legal issues to expect at Maduro’s trial. Mentioned: “ On the Legality of the Venezuela Invasion ” by Jack Goldsmith ( Executive Functions , Jan. 3, 2026) Curtis A. Bradley, Historical Gloss and Foreign Affairs: Constitutional...

Jack spoke with Chris Mirasola of the University of Houston Law Center about the President’s “protective power” to use the regular armed forces or the National Guard (if properly federalized) in the domestic sphere for the protection of federal property and functions. They discussed the origins and scope of the protective power, its relationship to the Posse Comitatus Act , why it was relevant in...

Bob and Jack discuss the latest developments across three ongoing issues in Trump’s second term: use of the pardon power, unresolved transparency disputes, and the administration’s campaign against major law firms. They examine the political dynamics at play behind a recent series of pardons, promised disclosures related to the Epstein files and the Sept. 2 boat strikes, and how executive orders t...

Jack talks with University of Minnesota Law School professor Alan Z. Rozenshtein about how artificial intelligence could reshape the modern presidency by easing bureaucratic limits that have traditionally constrained presidential control. Building on Rozenshtein’s lecture, The Unitary Artificial Executive , they discuss how automated decision systems might function as a presidential “oracle” acros...

Bob talks with historian Walter Stahr about William Howard Taft’s model of the presidency. The conversation covers Taft’s remarkably varied career across the executive and judicial branches, his differences with Theodore Roosevelt over the scope of executive power, his stance on war powers, and the significance of his post-presidential writing on executive authority and responsibility. Mentioned:...

Jack talks with Columbia Law professor David Pozen about Pozen's recent Boston Review essay with Jedediah Britton-Purdy, “What Are We Living Through?” They discuss three competing ways of understanding the Trump administration—authoritarian rupture, continuity with long-running dysfunction, and a transition to a new constitutional regime. The conversation explores whether all three can be true, wh...

Bob and Jack discuss recent reports of internal rifts at the Department of Justice, the loyalty pressures shaping the Trump administration, and whether constitutional reform is needed to curb the spiral of politicized prosecutions. Mentioned: The Imperial Presidency by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr “Part Enabler, Part Bluffer: The Bind of the Justice Department’s No. 2” by Glenn Thrush and Alan Feuer (...

Bob and Jack discuss (and disagree about) the Oregon National Guard ruling, the deference owed to the president, the relevance of the president’s Truth Social comments, and the ultimate limits on the president’s power to use the military in the domestic sphere. Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

Bob and Jack discuss the Trump administration’s indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, the lawfulness of the Lindsey Halligan appointment as interim U.S. Attorney, the implications of Trump’s full takeover and weaponization of DOJ, and how to think about reform in this context. Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

Keith Whittington, David Boies Professor of Law at Yale Law School and author of The Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy , joins Jack Goldsmith for a conversation about reconstructive presidents (Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, and FDR), and whether Donald Trump fits that mold. They discuss Trump’s constitutional ambitions, judicial supremacy versus departmentalism, and whether Trump will def...

Bob and Jack discuss the performance of White House Counsel David Warrington and examine last week’s lethal strike on alleged Venezuelan terrorists—including its possible implications for domestic presidential military strikes. Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to Executive Functions . This is an edited transcript of an episode of “Executive Functions Chat.” You can listen to the full co...

Jack Goldsmith is joined by Professor Aditya Bamzai of the University of Virginia Law School. They discuss the president’s constitutional removal power, whether the president satisfied the statutory “for cause” standard in firing Cook, why that issue is hard, whether Cook’s pre-Fed actions are relevant, whether Cook gets notice and a hearing before firing, and whether a reinstatement remedy is ava...

In this episode we review the Epstein scandal and discuss Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s conflict-of-interest problems, the White House challenge, and the looming role of Congress. Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to Executive Functions . This is an edited transcript of an episode of “Executive Functions Chat.” You can listen to the full conversation by following or subscribing...

President Trump yesterday evening withdrew the nomination of Alina Habba for U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey so that Attorney General Pam Bondi could appoint Habba as the “first assistant” in the U.S. attorney’s office—with the aim of positioning Habba to serve as U.S. attorney in an acting capacity. This came after DOJ, purportedly pursuant to the president’s authority, fired the off...

We discuss the response of TikTok providers to the administration’s non-enforcement pledges—including the companies’ legal liability and whether their responsibility to comply with the law runs past potential liability. Read Bob’s piece from yesterday about the providers’ conduct here . And check out Jack’s assessments of the legal basis for the non-enforcement of the statute here and here . Get f...

We discuss the Supreme Court’s Tuesday stay of the district court order blocking implementation of the reductions-in-force executive order. Jack thinks the Court got it right. Bob is skeptical. Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to Executive Functions . Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

We break down the opinions in Trump v. Casa —including the majority opinion’s statements on Solicitor General John Sauer’s concession to the bindingness of the Court’s judgments and opinions on the executive branch, the narrow scope of the majority, the opposing conceptions of the Court’s role in the majority and in Justice Jackson’s dissent, and how challenges to birthright citizenship are likely...

Jack argued early this week that it’s impossible to know whether the U.S. attack against Iran was constitutional “because the constitutional law of war powers is inscrutable.” Bob responded to Jack’s post , contending that although executive branch legal opinions provide support for the attack, that doesn’t resolve the constitutional problem. On this episode, we disagree about the constitutionalit...