AU Legislation and Policy Brief Host Symposium on Presidential Powers Under the Constitution
March 9, 2020
On March 6, 2020, the American University Legislation and Policy Brief held its second annual symposium, “Presidential Powers Under the Constitution,” sponsored by AUWCL’s Program on Law and Government.
Managing Editor Julie Flowers and Symposium Editor Jimmy Valenzuela welcomed attendees to the event, at which panelists discussed federalism and the relationships among the branches of government with a primary focus on the constitutional authority of the president.
“Whether you call it separation of powers, or the unitary executive, there’s a tremendous amount of interest in what defines the modern executive and the balance of power between president and Congress in particular,” said Program Director and Brief advisor Fernando Laguarda.
AU Sine Institute of Policy and Politics 2020 Fellow Janet Rodriguez SOC/BA ’06, seven time regional and national Emmy winning journalist who currently serves as White House Correspondent for Univision Network, served as keynote speaker and discussed her work covering the current administration.
“They were defiant the whole way through – they did not want to talk reason with reporters. They wanted to blame us for covering the ‘hoax’ that was the impeachment process. We had different meetings with the president, off the record meetings, and at no point was he in fear, or [felt] that he was in trouble in anyway…He considers himself the victim,” Rodriguez said, adding that after the elimination of daily press briefings, it has been very hard to report to the public when “you don’t have someone at the podium every day to get your questions answered.”
Laguarda moderated the symposium’s first panel, “Lessons from the Impeachment Trial,” featuring Visiting Professor Kim Wehle, University of Maryland Law Professor Max Stearns, and manager of the Election Law Initiative at The Heritage Foundation, Hans von Spakovsky.
In the wake of the of the trial, Wehle said the key question to ask is “what are we allowing to be created going forward in terms of checks on the office of the presidency?”
“It’s common sense – if there’s not a ticket for speeding, people will speed,” Wehle said, noting that if there aren’t clear consequences for bad actions, “we are enlarging the belt and suspenders of the office of the presidency in ways that as the framers understood will be abused because that’s human nature.”
The second panel, “War Acts and Targeted Killings,” was moderated by Distinguished Adjunct Professor Louis Caldera, a senior affiliate in the Program on Law and Government, and included Adjunct Professor Mark Rotenberg, School of Public Affairs Assistant Professor Chris Edelson, George Mason Professor Ilya Somin.
Learn more about the Program on Law and Government.