Professor Jed Shugerman was interviewed for a Newsweek article examining recent controversies around presidential power and the four upcoming Supreme Court cases that could further strengthen it.
Trump has talked about firing the intelligence community inspector general who found the whistleblower’s complaint to be “credible” and “urgent.” He has the right to do that, right?
It’s important how to talk about this. Many people will say the president has absolute power to fire anyone he wants. That’s exaggerated.
The Constitution never mentions explicitly the removal power. It was a gap in the Constitution. There was this long debate during the first Congress in 1789. They decided that the Constitution implicitly gave the president a removal power.
But the Constitution also says that the president “shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed.” Removal for corrupt reasons is in bad faith. In a paper with my Fordham colleagues Andrew Kent and Ethan Leib, we argue that the president can have a removal power, but it can’t be used in bad faith and for corrupt reasons.