Bohemian Peasant

“Caleb Nelson, one of the most respected originalist scholars in the country, comes out against the unitary executive interpretation” of the #Constitution.”

Professor Nelson is a former #ClarenceThomas law clerk and is often cited in opinions by the six conservative members of #SCOTUS. According to Nelson, reversing the landmark case #HumphreysExecutor would be an originalism mistake.

#originalism #ruleoflaw #legal #unitaryexecutivetheory

https://www.dorfonlaw.org/2025/10/the-emperors-new-clothes-originalism.html

The Emperor's New Clothes Originalism

Law Professor Caleb Nelson made a big splash this week by arguing that under the text and original meaning of the Constitution, Congress ha...

Oct 20 at 4:29pmWeb
Show threadBohemian PeasantOct 20

Professor Nelson’s article:

#originalism #scotus #unitaryexecutivetheory

https://democracyproject.org/posts/must-administrative-officers-serve-at-the-presidents-pleasure

Special Feature: Must Administrative Officers Serve at the President’s Pleasure?

A broad range of views on democracy to help break the stalemate caused by partisan conflict.

Show threadJohn YatesOct 20
@BohemianPeasant The fraud of unitary executive theory! https://tinyurl.com/yc2s3dsr
It is a 100% unconstitutional, made up whole cloth, garbage proposition, to serve wanna be dictators. No one who promotes it should be allowed to hold any governmental office whatsoever. It is a clear violation of their oath! #Politics
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Show threadvolkrisOct 20

@BohemianPeasant

Keep in mind that there are nuances to different interpretations of the unitary executive approach.

Nelson's argument, even if originalist, might be in full agreement with some proposals of the unitary executive.

Just for example, consider the potential Federal Reserve limitation that the Court gestured toward, or arguments that say the president can fire anyone he wants but he can't redirect funding, or vice versa.

The originalist approach is actually pretty amenable to to those sorts of arguments of magnitude by looking at original categorizations.