Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith on Trump Executive Orders
Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith authored a piece for the “Executive Functions” Substack which addresses the Trump administration’s views on Executive Orders—including the executive branch’s disdain for compliance with extant legal principles. See an excerpt below:
We do not know what legal process the New Trump administration is using to vet the legality of executive orders. But it does not appear that the executive order or regulation are being followed, or that DOJ or OLC is fully in the loop …
[Trump’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, Russell] Vought stated last May that his think tank, the Center for Renewing America, was “trying to build a shadow Office of Legal Counsel” to enable the president to avoid legal objections to his policies …
Vought strongly implied that an element of radical constitutionalism is to instill fear in the Supreme Court that the presidency is prepared to resort to outright defiance of its decisions.