American - Journalist | November 5, 1969 -
There is no doubt in my mind that Article II limits to a considerable degree the application of the obstruction statutes to the president when he is acting in his capacity as chief law-enforcement officer of the country.
Benjamin Wittes
MindLimitsDoubtActingCountry
I don't doubt that there are many presidential acts that would constitute obstructions of justice if anyone but the president engaged in them but which constitute legitimate exercises of presidential power when the president engages in them.
PowerJusticeDoubtPresidentWould
The nature of constitutional delegations of power is that they entitle the empowered official to do certain things that other people can't do.
NaturePowerPeopleThingsEmpowered
I normally try to ignore presidential tweets.
IgnoreTryNormallyPresidential
The idea that the president doesn't interfere in law-enforcement investigative matters is one of our deep normative expectations of the modern presidency. But it is not a matter of law. Legally, if the president of the United States wants to direct the specific conduct of investigations, that is his constitutional prerogative.
LawExpectationsDeepMatterMatters
The notion of law enforcement as professional, not political, began developing as an aspiration and an ethos even while, in practice, the FBI was the personal fiefdom of J. Edgar Hoover.
PracticeLawLaw EnforcementPersonal
Conservatives complain that the Supreme Court is too liberal. Liberals complain that it's too conservative. Both charges are inaccurate: in reality the Court is a careful political actor that arguably represents the center of gravity of American politics better than most politicians do.
PoliticsRealityBetterPolitical
In general, liberals fear conservative judges far too much. In almost all areas, in fact, they dramatically overstate the stakes.
FearToo MuchJudgesConservative
The foundations of modern civil-rights law are exceptionally secure. Conservative judges nibble around the edges sometimes, and people still debate the constitutionality of affirmative-action programs. But almost no one seriously argues about the basic meaning or legitimacy of core civil-rights protections.
PeopleLawMeaningDebateSometimes
Although environmental groups sometimes raise issues in the confirmation process, environmental protection is not central to the fear-mongering of the liberal interest groups that oppose conservative judges. But the threat to basic environmental protections from conservative jurisprudence is broad-based and severe.
EnvironmentalProcessSometimesRaise
Liberals have been overselling the threat to reproductive rights for decades.
RightsBeenThreatReproductive
I generally favor permissive abortion laws.
AbortionLawsFavorPermissive
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