Executive Functions Chat

Bob Bauer interviews Francis Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and author of The End of History and the Last Man . They discuss his new memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man , which, among other things, seeks to address misconceptions about the argument for which he is best known and to depict his intellectual arc; how exc...

Jack interviews attorney and historian Catherine Grace Katz about her new book, Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War . They discuss how a 1925 U.S. ban on helium exports required German airships to fly on flammable hydrogen, leading to the famous 1937 explosion over New Jersey. They also cover the Nazi takeover of the struggling Zeppelin company and the subsequen...

Bob interviews Nate Persily, the James B. McClatchy Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and co-director of the Stanford Law AI Initiative, about artificial intelligence and democracy, with particular attention to elections. They discuss what’s driving American anxiety about AI, why Republican and Democratic users alike rate AI models as left of center, and why Persily thinks the greater danger...

Bob Bauer interviews Tammy Patrick, Chief Executive Officer for Programs at the Election Center and former Federal Compliance Officer for the Maricopa County Elections Department, about how election officials are preparing for the midterm elections. They discuss differences between an imperfect election and an illegitimate one, the decentralized patchwork of thousands of local offices that adminis...

Jack and Bob discuss the legality of the three advertisements praising President Trump that have recently aired with the tag “Paid for by the U.S. Government” and were reportedly paid for with Department of Homeland Security funds. They explain why the advertisements run afoul of the annually enacted appropriations rider barring the use of public money for publicity or propaganda purposes, and exa...

Jack Goldsmith interviews John Coates, the John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard Law School and former general counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission, about Trump Media’s sale of early access to the president’s Truth Social posts—up to $100,000 a month for a roughly 50-millisecond head start on market-moving announcements. They discuss how the arrangement differs...

Bob Bauer discusses the Supreme Court’s order declining to stay the injunction against the Postal Service’s ballot-mail rule, issued the previous evening over a brief concurrence from Justice Kavanaugh and a longer dissent from Justices Alito and Thomas. He reads the Court’s order as a possible signal that eleventh-hour executive interventions in the electoral process would meet skepticism; notes...

Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith cover three sites of Republican pushback against the administration's election interventions: the Missouri dispute over which congressional map governs November, Justice Department election monitors in Wyoming, and a Supreme Court brief from 38 current and former election officials, several from deep-red states, arguing the mail-ballot rule cannot be implemented in tim...

Jack interviews Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, the Ashton B. Carter Visiting Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and formerly Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Deputy National Security Advisor, about her new Kennedy School report, Deterrence by Resilience: Securing the United States and Promoting Innovation in the Age of Bioconvergence . They discuss how artificial intelligence...

Jack and Bob discuss litigation over the Trump administration’s executive order on the Postal Service and election integrity, and the recent final rule that the Postal Service issued to implement the order. They explain what the Trump administration is seeking to accomplish with these maneuvers and examine the fate of two cases challenging the final rule that are pending in the District of Columbi...

Bob speaks with Danielle Friedman, Legal Director of the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School, about the Initiatives’ recently published analysis of state criminal laws that could apply to potential federal government interference in the 2026 and future elections. They discuss laws, varying from state to state, that address deployment of military or other a...

Jack Goldsmith interviews former Homeland Security Secretary and Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson about the article he co-authored in the Journal of National Security Law and Policy , "Presidential War Powers, Executive Expansion, and Congressional Retreat." They discuss how Congress's power over war has eroded, the constitutional and practical obstacles to reasserting it, and the war in Iran...

As the 2026 midterms approach, Jack and Bob give a big-picture overview of the Trump administration’s efforts to use federal law enforcement and executive power to influence the congressional elections. They discuss the constitutional limits on presidential authority over election rules, the administration’s novel tactics and mounting losses in court thus far, and the potential deployment of the m...

Jack speaks with University of Virginia School of Law Professor Saikrishna Prakash about the implications of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook . They discussed the breadth of the holding in Slaughter ; its implications for the president’s control over inferior officers, civil servants, and non-Article III courts; and its broader import for the non-delegation doc...

Jack chats with Robert Wright about his forthcoming book, The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning . They discuss why Wright views AI through an evolutionary lens, the promises and perils of increasingly capable AI systems, and the prospects for international cooperation—particularly between the U.S. and China—in managing AI-related risks. They also examine Wright’s ar...

Bob and Jack discuss President Trump’s nomination of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the current acting attorney general, to become Attorney General. They review Blanche’s record at DOJ, including his role in political weaponization, ethics concerns, and the fallout from the proposed Anti-Weaponization Fund. They also examine why Trump is forcing a confirmation fight when Blanche could plaus...

Following President Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence, Bob Bauer asks Avril Haines, who held the position during the Biden administration, to explain the history behind the establishment of the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the role of the director as leader of the intelligence community. They also discuss why the law re...

Bob and Jack discuss the Justice Department and IRS “settlement” with President Trump and his family, which created a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” for Trump allies and immunized Trump and others from IRS scrutiny and penalties for past conduct. They discuss how the episode combines two hallmarks of the Trump presidency: abuse of government power and self-enrichment. They also consider...

Jack chats with Sebastian Mallaby, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, about his new book The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence . They discuss current challenges in AI safety, the U.S.-China race and prospects for cooperation, and the emerging risks posed by powerful new models like Anthropic’s Mythos. They also talk about tensions betwe...

Jack chats with Marty Lederman, professor at Georgetown University Law Center and former deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel, about a recent OLC opinion declaring the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional. They examine what is at stake, the statute’s history, and the constitutional arguments behind the claim. They also discuss a lawsuit challenging the opinion and...

Jack chats with Sarah Isgur about her new book, Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today’s Supreme Court . They unpack her theory of the Court’s decisional dynamics and explore the Court’s approach to executive power in the Trump era, which can be seen as both empowering and constraining the presidency on different dimensions. Mentioned: - Sarah Isgur...

In light of President Trump’s recent threats to withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, Jack chats with Professor Curtis Bradley of the University of Chicago Law School about whether Trump has the authority to do so. They discuss the constitutional foundations of treaty termination and the validity of Congress’s 2023 statute that restricts withdrawal absent congressional or sena...

Bob and Jack chat about the war with Iran and Congress’s response. They discuss Congress’s failed efforts to halt the conflict, an emerging proposal for a constrained authorization of force, and the Trump administration’s limited engagement with lawmakers. They examine the politics of the conflict, the role of funding and appropriations, the status of the War Powers Resolution, and contemporary le...

Jack speaks with Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, about his new book, Separation of Powers: How to Preserve Liberty in Troubled Times . They discuss why the executive is the most dangerous branch of government, the importance of responsible executive branch lawyers, and contemporary debates over the administrative state, including unitary executive the...

In light of the U.S. attacks on Iran over the weekend, Jack speaks with Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, former White House Homeland Security Advisor, about how the U.S. government would normally prepare for domestic threats during periods of heightened risk. They discuss how the federal homeland security enterprise activates in response to elevated threat levels, including coordination across the Depa...