My op-ed in @washingtonpost: "Think Whitaker is a hack? He's one of many."
The past century has been full of corrupt crony AGs.
A historical argument for making the Attorney General and DOJ structurally independent from the president. 1/
washingtonpost.com/opinions/think…
The past century has been full of corrupt crony AGs.
A historical argument for making the Attorney General and DOJ structurally independent from the president. 1/
washingtonpost.com/opinions/think…
2/ For more historical detail, including categorization of every long-term Attorney General in US history, plus a discussion of the Founding's original understanding of prosecution and AGs - against the unitary executive theory, see my paper here: shugerblog.com/2018/11/10/cro…
3/ For my historical argument about Congress's creation of the DOJ in 1870 as a way to reduce cronyism in the government and to promote professional independence (but also a fraught relationship with black civil rights), see my longer article here: stanfordlawreview.org/wp-content/upl…
4/ Re: #Whitaker. I'm still struggling to see how any "Acting Department Head" fits into Article II's text. Here are the key clauses of Article II:
Sec. 2, Cl. 1: The President "may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments."
Sec. 2, Cl. 1: The President "may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments."
