On Friday morning, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously struck down President Obama’s alleged “recess” appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The appointments were made over a year ago, so the ruling invalidates a number of actions taken by the NLRB since then. The five-member NLRB cannot act on issues before it absent a…

Nixon’s press secretary tried to dismiss the Watergate break-in as nothing more than “a third-rate burglary.”  It was always more than that, but the high-level cover up—with illegitimate claims of executive privilege—was far worse. Watergate demonstrates how bogus claims of executive privilege can jeopardize a President’s tenure and forever taint his legacy.  Time…

As a strong defender of executive power (when properly exercised) and executive privilege (when properly invoked), I am concerned when claims of executive power or privilege are abused for any reason – especially if they are invoked to shield potential wrongdoing. In addition to shielding the wrongdoing, it jeopardizes the very executive power that the president is…

President Obama’s attempt to unilaterally appoint three people to seats on the National Labor Relations Board and Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (after the Senate blocked action on his nomination) is more than an unconstitutional attempt to circumvent the Senate’s advise-and-consent role. It is a breathtaking violation of the…

Although the authority granted to Congress in the commerce clause should be the same as when the Constitution was first ratified, the common understanding about its scope today is much broader. Moreover, this new understanding about its breadth is the primary means by which the central government’s power has grown. This expansion of national power raises serious…