Source: Washington Post
by George F Will
“Today, Congress is evidently unembarrassed about being mostly a spectator in the bleachers at the game of government. And it probably regrets the court’s major questions doctrine, which is: If Congress intends to authorize executive agencies to make decisions with large economic and political consequences, it must clearly say so. The court can further discomfit Congress, constructively, by curbing its power to delegate its core powers. The vexing problem, inescapable when power is vested in a single executive, is how to circumscribe his or her discretion. Hence, the title of Harvard political philosopher Harvey C. Mansfield Jr.’s 1989 study of executive power: ‘Taming the Prince.’ Today’s challenge is to ‘recage the executive lion,’ says University of Virginia law professor Saikrishna Prakash in ‘The Living Presidency’ (2020).” (03/21/25)