We the People

Executive Authority: Presidential Power From America’s Founding to Today

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Gillian Metzger of Columbia Law School and Saikrishna Prakash of the University of Virginia School of Law join Jeffrey Rosen to examine the founders’ vision for the presidency, review how presidential power has changed over time, and debate the constitutional questions—including the unitary executive theory—that have shaped the modern presidency.


Resources

  • Federalist No. 70, New York Packet (March 18, 1788)
  • Myers v. United States (1926)
  • Trump v. United States (2024)
  • Saikrishna Prakash, The Living Presidency: An Originalist Argument Against Its Ever-Expanding Powers, (2020)
  • Saikrishna Prakash, Imperial from the Beginning: The Constitution of the Original Executive, (2015)
  • Gillian Metzger, “Disqualification, Immunity, and the Presidency,” Harvard Law Review, Vol. 138 (April 1, 2025)


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      We the PeopleBy National Constitution Center