Upcoming Office Hours - Trump v. Slaughter and the Future of U.S. Executive Power (Thursday, July 16, 11:00 AM ET)
Last month, our ISSE Office Hours examined the Unitary Executive Theory as the U.S. Supreme Court prepared to decide Trump v. Slaughter. We explored the theory’s origins, its constitutional foundations, and the competing arguments advanced by its proponents and critics.
The Court has now spoken.
In one of the most consequential separation-of-powers decisions in decades, the Supreme Court substantially expanded presidential authority over much of the executive branch by holding that Congress cannot insulate many executive officers from presidential removal. Whether viewed as a restoration of the Constitution’s original design or as a dramatic shift in the balance of governmental power, Trump v. Slaughter will have lasting implications for the structure of the American state.
This month’s Office Hours will move beyond the headlines to examine what the decision actually did, and what it may mean over the coming years.
Among the questions we will explore:
• What did the Supreme Court actually hold in Trump v. Slaughter, and what constitutional reasoning did it employ?
• How does the decision reshape the relationship between the President, Congress, and the independent agencies?
• What is the difference between presidential accountability and institutional independence?
• How should we understand the competing constitutional visions advanced by the majority and the dissent?
• Does the decision represent a return to the Constitution’s original allocation of executive power, or a significant constitutional transformation?
• What are the practical implications for regulatory agencies, administrative governance, and the federal bureaucracy?
• How does Trump v. Slaughter fit within a broader pattern of recent Supreme Court decisions involving executive authority?
• What can this case tell us about the long-term evolution of presidential power in the United States?
At ISSE, we are interested not only in whether executive authority expands or contracts, but in how constitutional systems change over time. One of the central themes of our work is that exceptional powers rarely become permanent through a single dramatic event. More often, they become embedded gradually, through judicial decisions, legislative acquiescence, institutional adaptation, and the accumulation of precedent. Trump v. Slaughter offers an opportunity to examine that process as it unfolds within the American constitutional system.
As always, our discussion will be nonpartisan, comparative, and grounded in constitutional analysis. We welcome participants with a wide range of perspectives, whether you have followed these debates closely or are simply interested in understanding one of the most important constitutional developments of the year.
Please Join Us
Thursday, July 16 · 11:00am – 12:00pm
Time zone: Eastern (America/New York)
Google Meet joining info
meet.google.com/bvp-kznv-mux
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