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April 30, 2025 64 mins

Where do our presidents get their powers? Are those powers enumerated in the Constitution? Or are those powers bestowed by Congress? For our Founders, was the presidency essentially an instrument of legislative agenda? Or did they believe that the president possesses some sovereign right distinct and separate from Congress?


In this interview, I discuss the following with my guest:

►Is it possible to compare a modern president, e.g., Pres. Trump, with one of our Founding presidents, e.g., Pres. Washington? Would this be like comparing apples to oranges?

►What was George Washingtons' presidency like?

►Is studying America's founding period important for history's sake, or does it provide some legal structure for our current constitutional framework?

►If the past truly is a foreign country, i.e., so different than our present, then what values can we derive from studying it?

►What is originalism?

►What is pluralism?

►What are a president's process powers?

►What are president's enumerated powers?

►What are the clear exceptions to the president's Article II powers?

►Do statutes increase presidential power? Can they take away presidential power?

►What is a unitary executive?

►What agency and institutional hurdles do presidents face?

►Why is terminating federal employees such an important and controversial issue?

►Do statutes empower presidents or constrain them?


🚩About My 170th Guest Scholar:

My guest is Prof. Julian Davis Mortenson of Michigan Law, University of Michigan. He is a legal historian, constitutional litigator, and award-winning teacher who specializes in the constitutional and political history of early America. His constitutional law casebook, Constitutional Law: An Integrated Approach, has already been widely adopted in its first three years of publication; and it is now going into a second edition. Prof. Mortensen is currently working on The Founders' President, a fascinating project that we discuss in this interview.


🚩Adel Aali

host & producer

☑️Where to find my program:

Home:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://historybehindnews.com ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | ⁠.css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}


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