The Unitary Government Idea: A Hazard to Constitutional Authorities

“I’ve an Article II,” Donald Trump has introduced, citing the US Structure, “the place I’ve the fitting to do no matter I would like as president.” Although this assertion would have come as a shock to the framers of the Structure, it pretty sums up the essence of “the unitary government principle.” This principle, which emerged through the Reagan administration and gathered power with each subsequent presidency, counters the system of checks and balances that constrains a president’s government impulses. It additionally, the authors of this ebook contend, counters the letter and spirit of the Structure.

Of their account of the rise of unitary government principle over the past a number of many years, the authors refute the notion that this overweening view of government energy has been a standard characteristic of the presidency from the start of the Republic. Somewhat, they present, it was invented below the Reagan Administration, bought a lift through the George W. Bush administration, and has discovered its logical extension within the Trump administration. This critique of the unitary government principle reveals it as a misguided mannequin for understanding presidential powers. Whereas its adherents argue that larger presidential energy makes authorities extra environment friendly, the outcomes have proven in any other case. Dismantling the parable that presidents take pleasure in unchecked plenary powers, the authors advocate for ideas of separation of powers—of checks and balances—that honor the Structure and assist the republican authorities its framers envisioned.

A much-needed primer on presidential energy, from the nation’s founding via Donald Trump’s impeachment,
The Unitary Government Idea: A Hazard to Constitutional Authorities makes a strong and persuasive case for a return to our constitutional limits.