@execfunctions.org
A Substack newsletter devoted to analysis of presidential and broader executive power issues, by Bob Bauer and @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social
@execfunctions.orgJack Goldsmith and Catherine Grace Katz discuss Zeppelins, the 1925 U.S. helium ban, and what the Hindenburg disaster might suggest about controlling AI.
@execfunctions.orgJust in from Executive Functions: Bob Bauer and @persily.bsky.social discuss the impacts, both realized and potential, of AI on elections.
@democracyproject.bsky.socialReposted by @execfunctions.orgFrom Faculty Director Bob Bauer’s new “Elections 2026” essay with @execfunctions.org— “The Politics of AI: A Campaign Finance Reform Proposal”
@execfunctions.orgJack Goldsmith writes that even in the unitary executive, "IGs can still facilitate executive branch accountability, as two recent IG reports—from the Trump-appointed, Senate-confirmed Pentagon IG, and the non-confirmed Federal Reserve IG—illustrate."
www.execfunctions.org/p/inspectors...
@execfunctions.orgJack and Bob discuss the legality of the three advertisements praising President Trump that have recently aired with the tag “Paid for by the U.S. Government” and were reportedly paid for with Department of Homeland Security funds.
@execfunctions.orgBob Bauer argues that the administration’s recent taxpayer-funded ads featuring President Trump violate the federal ban on spending appropriated funds for propaganda, but that consequences will likely depend on Congress—which “faces a major legal and policy challenge in giving any teeth to the ban.”
@execfunctions.orgThe latest from Bob Bauer:
@execfunctions.orgIs Trump Media’s early-access feed lawful? Jack Goldsmith and former SEC GC John Coates discuss:
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
@execfunctions.orgQuick thoughts from Bob Bauer on last night's emergency order:
@democracyproject.bsky.socialReposted by @execfunctions.org🚨Next up in the Elections 2026 series: Faculty Dir. Bob Bauer — "In Missouri, A Judicial Response to Politicized Election Administration"
We're publishing daily essays on potential threats to the election process & mechanisms available to manage them
Read here: democracyproject.org/posts/in-mis...
@execfunctions.orgWhere Republican pushback against the administration's election program is showing up: (1) the Missouri map dispute, (2) Justice Department monitors in Wyoming, (3) a Supreme Court brief from 38 current and former election officials. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
@execfunctions.orgThe Court that held last Term that elections are different for standing just told the states challenging Trump's election order that their harms were hypothetical. What happened to Bost? Bob Bauer on the choice the Justices face before the midterms.
@execfunctions.orgBuilding a bioweapon used to require a PhD and a government lab. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall says the work “can now be done in the wild with a laptop and an AI account.” She and Jack Goldsmith discuss her case for deterrence by resilience.
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
@execfunctions.orgJack Goldsmith writes that the Trump administration cannot "have it both ways" by claiming "extreme unitariness and fir[ing] people for failing to follow the president’s demand to indict enemies" AND "that the prosecutor in the Comey case made an independent[, uninfluenced] decision to prosecute..."
@execfunctions.orgBob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith on the White House's abstract hypothetical executive privilege question and OLC's strange, misleading answer:
