Jack Goldsmith
@jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social
Prof Harvard Law School, Co-founder of Lawfare, Non-res. sr. fellow at AEI; executivefunctions.substack. Opinions mine alone. Likes ≠ agree; = save to read. https://jackgoldsmith.org/
Bob Bauer talks to Avril Haines, President Biden's Director of National Intelligence, about the Department that President Trump designated Bill Pulte to lead as Acting Director. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
What Exactly is Bill Pulte’s New Job as Acting Director of National Intelligence?
A discussion with former Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines
open.substack.com
Homeland Security in a Time of War with Iran: My discussion with Biden Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall on how the U.S. government would normally prepare for domestic threats during periods of heightened risk. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
Homeland Security in a Time of War with Iran
Preventing retaliatory threats at home
open.substack.com
My assessment of the damage Trump and Hegseth are doing to the DOD legal culture. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
The Decaying Legal Culture in the Defense Department
Trump and Hegseth will leave the uniformed military damaged by illegality, and Congress will be complicit
open.substack.com
My thoughts on the Tariff Decision and the President's angry reaction, which affirmed the remarkable power of the Court. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
Quick Thoughts on the Tariff Decision and the President's Angry Reaction
A massive defeat for the president and an extraordinary affirmation of the Supreme Court's power.
open.substack.com
Bauer and I discuss how the judicial system this week rebuffed the Trump administration's efforts to punish the six Democrats in Congress who said that members of the military may or must resist illegal orders. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
Prosecuting Members of Congress
The injunction in the Kelly case, a grand jury rebuff, and a debate over anti-weaponization reforms.
open.substack.com
My take, building on arguments by James Comey, on the extraordinary degree to which federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have successfully checked the Trump administration in the last year. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
The Federal Court Snapback
The judiciary, including the Supreme Court, is standing up to the president
open.substack.com
Bob Bauer and I discuss the Georgia voting records search warrant and Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
Donald Trump is Settling Old Scores—and Making New Plans?
The Georgia voting records search warrant and Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS
open.substack.com
My discussion with Sai Prakash about his great (and short!) new book on the Pardon Power (www.amazon.com/Presidential...) open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
Sai Prakash on the Pardon Power from the Founding to Trump
A short clause, a troubled history
open.substack.com
A brief tribute to the great Edward Levi, the 71st Attorney General of the United States. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
Edward Levi’s Department of Justice
What a Difference a Half Century Makes
open.substack.com
Bob Bauer and I discuss the law and politics of the DOJ criminal investigation of the Fed Chair. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
The Criminal Investigation of the Fed Chair
The law and politics of weaponizing DOJ against Powell
open.substack.com
My quick take on the legality of the Venezuela invasion. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
On the Legality of the Venezuela Invasion
Executive branch precedents can be garnered to support the action—which does not, of course, mean that it is lawful.
open.substack.com
May have sent bad link earlier on my discussion with Chris Mirasola about the president's protective power and its relevance to Trump's domestic military deployments--a potentially big issue going forward. Now fixed. www.execfunctions.org/p/the-presid...
The President's Protective Power
The relevance and limits of the Article II doctrine in domestic military deployments after Trump v. Illinois
execfunctions.org
My discussion with Chris Mirasola about the president's protective power and its relevance to Trump's domestic military deployments--a potentially big issue going forward. www.execfunctions.org/p/the-presid... Chris's great article on this: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
The President's Protective Power
The relevance and limits of the Article II doctrine in domestic military deployments after Trump v. Illinois
execfunctions.org
Re-upping my take from a year ago on Trump and Greenland: "Trump has a habit of making the unthinkable thinkable. But he faces complex legal and political hurdles to making the thinkable a reality." open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
The Danish West Indies Precedent for U.S. Acquisition of Greenland
There is lots of law between Donald Trump and the acquisition of Greenland
open.substack.com
My discussion with Alan Rozenshtein on Executive Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Bureaucracy and the presidential "oracle" www.execfunctions.org/p/executive-...
A Dishonorable Strike Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder www.execfunctions.org/p/a-dishonor...
A Dishonorable Strike
Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder
execfunctions.org
My discussion with David Pozen about his elucidating essay, with Jedediah Britton-Purdy, entitled: "What Are We Living Through? Three competing narratives of the second Trump administration." www.execfunctions.org/p/what-are-w...
What Are We Living Through?
Three ways to understand the Trump administration
execfunctions.org
My take on the significance of the classified OLC opinion for the Venezuela boat strikes. www.execfunctions.org/p/the-venezu...
The Venezuela Boat Strikes and the Justice Department’s Golden Shield
How the Office of Legal Counsel Helps the White House in its Summary Killings
execfunctions.org
Bob Bauer and I discuss internal rifts at DOJ, the loyalty pressures shaping the Trump administration, and whether constitutional reform is needed to curb the spiral of politicized prosecutions. www.execfunctions.org/p/decision-m...
Decision-making Disarray at the DOJ
Blanche, Bondi, Halligan, Martin—and a White House in charge
execfunctions.org
First full draft of a new paper: A (very) deep dive in to the Supreme Court's interim orders related to Trump thus far this year. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
My take on Trump's second and still-illegal extension of his order declining enforcement of the TikTok ban and seeking to wipe out private liability under the law, with assessment of implications. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
Trump’s Continuing Illegal Refusal to Enforce the TikTok Ban
This executive branch precedent will have long and bad legs.
open.substack.com
Bob Bauer and I discuss the possibility of the US joining in on Israel's strikes on Iran: legal authorities, Congress's role, and the politics. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
The Iran Conflict and War Powers
Assessing the president's authority, Congress's role, and the underlying politics
open.substack.com
My assessment of Martin v. Mott, which will be crucial in resolving the L.A. Deployment case and other more aggressive domestic military deployments. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
Martin v. Mott Enters the Stage
The scope of judicial review of the president’s domestic deployment decisions, and the federal courts’ larger predicament
open.substack.com
Bob Bauer and I discuss the L.A. Deployment Ruling open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
The Weak L.A. Deployment Ruling
A missed opportunity and next steps
open.substack.com
California Sues USG and and the Marines Enter L.A.: A longer-than-usual chat with Bob Bauer in which we disagree, a bit, on the law and politics of the USG-CA standoff. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
California Sues and Marines Enter L.A.
A longer-than-usual chat in which we disagree, a bit, on the law and politics
open.substack.com
Bob Bauer and I discuss legal and other issues related to POTUS National Guard Memo and troops in LA. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
Troops in Los Angeles
The legal authorities and possible trajectory of the deployment
open.substack.com
Short, sound, and straightforward legal analysis of the National Guard in LA, by @cmirasola1. Bottom line: 10 USC 12406 is the authority to federalize national guard, but the "protective power" exercised by POTUS is Article II-based. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
The National Guard in Los Angeles
The president hasn’t invoked the Insurrection Act. He’s instead relying on a theory of inherent constitutional power that is far more limited.
lawfaremedia.org
Bob Bauer on why Trump openly flaunts his corruption. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
The Money 'Game' and the All-Powerful Executive
Trump’s open profiteering is not only about self-enrichment.
open.substack.com
