The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy Institute, is offering a FREE virtual event on Tuesday, August 5, at 3 p.m to 4 p.m. ET with historians and legal experts on the topic The Rise of the Imperial Presidency. The conversation will examine the modern presidency, the origins of the unitary executive theory, and its implications for the future of checks and balances. 

The executive branch has amassed tremendous power, challenging the constitutional balance among branches of government. This year alone, the president has ignored the laws passed by Congress to fire leaders of independent agencies without cause, freeze the spending of appropriated funds, and deploy the military as a domestic police force.

Supporters of vast presidential power have a name for this: the unitary executive. It’s the idea that the Constitution gives the president full personal control over the executive branch and wide latitude to act unilaterally. While legal scholars debate its scope, the theory in its most expansive form envisions a king-like president largely unconstrained by Congress or the courts. An embrace of this theory by the executive branch and the Supreme Court could carry far-reaching consequences for American democracy.

The Panelists include: 

• Samuel Breidbart, Counsel, Brennan Center Democracy Program  

• Jane Manners, Associate Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law  

• Julian Davis Mortenson, James G. Phillipp Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School  

• Cristina Rodríguez, Deputy Dean, Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law, Yale Law School  

• Moderator: Wilfred U. Codrington III, Walter Floersheimer Professor of Constitutional Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

To register for this FREE event CLICK HERE

NOTE: Our League of Women Voters (LWV) is promoting this event to help advance the LWV Mission to Empower Voters and Defend Democracy. It also supports the LWV declaration that we are in a Constitutional Crisis and fosters the Unite & Rise Initiative.