Brianne Gorod & Charlie Miller: Contrary to Justice Kavanaugh’s suggestion, there is nothing sacrosanct about November 3, and no requirement that the country must know the victor of the presidential election that night.
It's been one year since DHS had a director confirmed by the Senate. In the meantime, Trump has continued to avoid the constitutional requirement of advice and consent—and violated federal law about using acting directors.
By Brianne Gorod and Becca Damante: Congress’s $2 trillion relief legislation is the largest aid package in modern American history. That’s a lot of discretion to give to an Administration in which self-dealing and corruption are disturbingly common. There is thus an urgent need for vigorous congressional oversight.
By Charlie Miller & Brianne Gorod: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced a Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis. The Truman Commission offers a model for oversight of the COVID-19 response.
Congress has historically exercised its broad oversight authority to investigate public health crises and the executive branch’s responses to them, and it can do the same here.
Although Judge McFadden made clear that he did not need to decide whether the House has standing to enforce subpoenas, what he said nonetheless strongly suggests that he would conclude that they do
Congress’s power to investigate—a power with deep roots in our nation’s history and precedent—is incredibly broad, and it allows Congress to look into lots of matters that the President would apparently rather remain unexplored
Trump has suggested that SCOTUS will save his national emergency gambit, just like it saved his Muslim Ban. But there are major problems with that analogy.
While Roberts deserves some praise for his vote last week, the story of this Louisiana law is far from over. And what Roberts does next will tell us a lot—about him and the trajectory of the Court he leads.
