Professional Learning Opportunities

Concerns over executive power have existed for as long as there have been executives with power. Fear that an executive would wield power unjustly led to various mechanisms for checking such power in modern states. This workshop will explore executive power in the United States in both theory and practice. How much power do presidents possess and how much should they be given? How has presidential power evolved over time? Because executive power is exercised, in large part, through the bureaucracy, what are the checks on technocratic power? Does the president have unlimited control over the bureaucracy or are there limits to what the president can do with - and to - the bureaucracy? This workshop is designed to answer these, and other, questions by providing historical, constitutional, and analytical tools to better understand executive power. Topics to be explored include the constitutional design for separation of powers; the growth of executive power over time; key Supreme Court cases on executive power and the administrative state; the Administrative Procedure Act and the (now nullified) Chevron doctrine; the unitary executive theory; the civil service; and the status of independent agencies.