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Command And Control: Operationalizing The Unitary Executive, Gary S. Lawson Nov 2023

Command And Control: Operationalizing The Unitary Executive, Gary S. Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

The concept of the unitary executive is written into the Constitution by virtue of Article II’s vesting of the “executive Power” in the President and not in executive officers created by Congress. Defenders and opponents alike of the “unitary executive” often equate the idea of presidential control of executive action with the power to remove executive personnel. But an unlimitable presidential removal power cannot be derived from the vesting of executive power in the President for the simple reason that it would not actually result in full presidential control of executive action, as the actions of now-fired subordinates would still …


Liberty Through The Looking-Glass: Comparative Democratic Backsliding In Response To The French Revolution (1789-1806), Michael Rosenbaum Jun 2023

Liberty Through The Looking-Glass: Comparative Democratic Backsliding In Response To The French Revolution (1789-1806), Michael Rosenbaum

Honors Theses

In response to the French Revolution, sections of British and American political society mobilized to curtail the influence of French-inspired radicals and enforce their own power. Between 1789 and 1806, a process of democratic backsliding occurred simultaneously in Britain and America with remarkably similar characteristics. This is notable for the British and American cases, whose political systems famously ensured liberty and tranquility. Elements of both nations remained extremely hostile to the French Revolution beginning with March on Versailles and promoted legislation seeking to directly undermine political opposition. The antipathy towards the Revolution fractured British and American society into conservatives, moderates, …


"The Arc Of The Moral Universe": Christian Eschatology And U.S. Constitutionalism, Nathan Chapman Jan 2023

"The Arc Of The Moral Universe": Christian Eschatology And U.S. Constitutionalism, Nathan Chapman

Scholarly Works

At the heart of American constitutionalism is an irony. The United States is constitutionally committed to religious neutrality; the government may not take sides in religious disputes. Yet many features of constitutional law are inexplicable without their intellectual and cultural origins in religious beliefs, practices, and movements. The process of constitutionalization has been one of secularization. The most obvious example is perhaps also the most ideal of liberty of conscience that fueled religious disestablishment, free exercise, and equality was born of a Protestant view of the individual’s responsibility before God.

This Essay explores another overlooked instance of constitutional secularization. Many …