Executive Functions Chat

Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith
  • 4.3 (12)
  • Government
  • Updated Semiweekly

Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith discuss news about the presidency. www.execfunctions.org

  1. 5d ago

    SCOTUS Leaves the Ballot-Mail Rule Blocked

    Bob Bauer discusses the Supreme Court’s order declining to stay the injunction against the Postal Service’s ballot-mail rule, issued the previous evening over a brief concurrence from Justice Kavanaugh and a longer dissent from Justices Alito and Thomas. He reads the Court’s order as a possible signal that eleventh-hour executive interventions in the electoral process would meet skepticism; notes the measure of bipartisanship in the record, including red-state election officials who told the Court the rule could not be implemented in time; and cautions that the rule’s application to the 2028 (and later) elections remains an open question. Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

    SCOTUS Leaves the Ballot-Mail Rule Blocked

  2. Sep 11

    Republican Pushback on the Administration's Election Program

    Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith cover three sites of Republican pushback against the administration's election interventions: the Missouri dispute over which congressional map governs November, Justice Department election monitors in Wyoming, and a Supreme Court brief from 38 current and former election officials, several from deep-red states, arguing the mail-ballot rule cannot be implemented in time for the midterms. Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

    Republican Pushback on the Administration's Election Program

  3. Aug 31

    Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall on Bioweapons in the Age of AI

    Jack interviews Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, the Ashton B. Carter Visiting Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and formerly Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Deputy National Security Advisor, about her new Kennedy School report, Deterrence by Resilience: Securing the United States and Promoting Innovation in the Age of Bioconvergence. They discuss how artificial intelligence has changed the biological threat landscape since ChatGPT, the scenarios that worry her most, and the report's recommendations across prevention, detection, attribution, readiness, response, and resilience—among them a nationwide early warning system, rapid attribution, a federally chartered National Institute for Bioresilience, and an Operation Warp Speed-style partnership with industry built before the crisis rather than during it. They also take up the legislation this would require, what the frontier AI labs might make of it, and the surveillance and privacy tradeoffs the program implies. Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

    Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall on Bioweapons in the Age of AI

  4. Aug 27

    The Postal Service and the 2026 Elections

    Jack and Bob discuss litigation over the Trump administration’s executive order on the Postal Service and election integrity, and the recent final rule that the Postal Service issued to implement the order. They explain what the Trump administration is seeking to accomplish with these maneuvers and examine the fate of two cases challenging the final rule that are pending in the District of Columbia and Massachusetts. They also analyze the practical difficulties in implementing the rule before the fall election, the role of federal criminal enforcement as a source of pressure on the states, and how the Purcell principle bears on litigation brought this close to an election. Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

    The Postal Service and the 2026 Elections

  5. Jul 30

    States’ Protection of Their Elections

    Bob speaks with Danielle Friedman, Legal Director of the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School, about the Initiatives’ recently published analysis of state criminal laws that could apply to potential federal government interference in the 2026 and future elections. They discuss laws, varying from state to state, that address deployment of military or other armed forces at the polls; actions to delay or disrupt the delivery of election mail, such as registration forms and ballots; and the seizure and removal of voting materials from election offices. Their discussion covers the likely federal government defenses against state criminal prosecutions of this kind. Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

    States’ Protection of Their Elections

  6. Jul 24

    Jeh Johnson on Presidential War Powers and Congressional Retreat

    Jack Goldsmith interviews former Homeland Security Secretary and Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson about the article he co-authored in the Journal of National Security Law and Policy, "Presidential War Powers, Executive Expansion, and Congressional Retreat." They discuss how Congress's power over war has eroded, the constitutional and practical obstacles to reasserting it, and the war in Iran as a live example. Mentioned: * Jeh Johnson and Ethan Klaris, Presidential War Powers: Executive Expansion and Congressional Retreat (2026) * Cyrus Vance, Striking the Balance: Congress and the President Under the War Powers Resolution (1984) Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

    Jeh Johnson on Presidential War Powers and Congressional Retreat

  7. Jul 9

    Trump and the Midterms

    As the 2026 midterms approach, Jack and Bob give a big-picture overview of the Trump administration’s efforts to use federal law enforcement and executive power to influence the congressional elections. They discuss the constitutional limits on presidential authority over election rules, the administration’s novel tactics and mounting losses in court thus far, and the potential deployment of the military or ICE to the polls. They also examine the effects of the administration’s agenda on voter turnout, public confidence in the electoral process, and the risk of contested results. Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

    Trump and the Midterms

  8. Jul 1

    Sai Prakash on Slaughter and Cook

    Jack speaks with University of Virginia School of Law Professor Saikrishna Prakash about the implications of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook. They discussed the breadth of the holding in Slaughter; its implications for the president’s control over inferior officers, civil servants, and non-Article III courts; and its broader import for the non-delegation doctrine, the major questions doctrine, and other mechanisms that could constrain the now-more-broadly-empowered unitary executive. They also discussed the validity of the carve-out in both cases for the Federal Reserve. Relevant reading: - “The Executive Power of Removal” by Aditya Bamzai and Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash (Harvard Law Review, 2023) - “New Light on the Decision of 1789” by Saikrishna Prakash (Cornell Law Review, 2006) Get full access to Executive Functions at www.execfunctions.org/subscribe

    Sai Prakash on Slaughter and Cook
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About

Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith discuss news about the presidency. www.execfunctions.org

Information

  • Creator
    Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    63
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith
  • Show Website
    Executive Functions Chat