With the end of Donald Trump’s presidency potentially imminent, debates have begun about how to reform American politics—and the powers of the executive branch in America’s constitutional system. On this episode, we speak with Jack Goldsmith, professor of law at Harvard University, who recently coauthored After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency. In this episode, he discusses his vision for reforms that should—and possibly could—be used to reform the presidency after Donald Trump. A leading conservative in the legal academy, Goldsmith also talks to us about the medium- to long-term evolution of right-of-center legal arguments about the presidency.

Jack Goldsmith writes books and articles on topics related to terrorism, national security, international law, federal courts, conflicts of law, and law and technology. Before joining Harvard, he served as Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel from 2003 to 2004 and as Special Counsel to the General Counsel to the Department of Defense from 2002 to 2003.

Additional reading:

·  Samuel Moyn, “The Guardians: Does ‘The Resistance’ Actually Want More Democracy or Less?” in The Nation

·  Jack Goldsmith, The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment in the Bush Administration

·  Jack Goldsmith and Eric A. Posner, The Limits of International Law

·  Jack Goldsmith, Power and Constraint: The Accountable Presidency after 9/11

·  Eric A. Posner, The Executive Unbound: After the Madisonian Republic

·  John Yoo, Defender in Chief: Donald Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power

·  John Yoo, Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George W. Bush