In May, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Since Mueller’s appointment, the probe has raised a number of constitutional questions, ranging from whether the president can legally fire Mueller and end the investigation to what remedies exist should Mueller find evidence of collusion.
Specifically, the investigation has led to debates about the nature of potential obstruction of justice charges against a President; if a President can actually be charged with obstruction; and the role of Congress in the investigative process.
National Constitution Center Jeffrey Rosen moderates a discussion about these issues two leading experts on these topics: Laura Donohue and Sai Prakash.
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PARTICIPANTS
Laura Donohue is Professor of Law at Georgetown Law, Director of Georgetown’s Center on National Security and the Law, and Director of the Center on Privacy and Technology.
Sai Prakash is James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law and Paul G. Mahoney Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School.
Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center, the only institution in America chartered by Congress “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.” He is also a professor at The George Washington University Law School, and a contributing editor for The Atlantic.
Related Decisions and Documents
- Obstruction of Justice Statutes 18 U.S.C. §§ 1501-1521 (2011)
- General Powers of Special Counsel 28 CFR 600 (2017)
- Ethics in Government Act 5 U.S.C. (1978)
- Opinion in U.S. v. Leo (3rd Cir. 1991)
- Opinion in U.S. v. Khan (4th Cir. 2006)
- Opinion in Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52 (1925), October 25, 1926
- Opinion in Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988), June 27, 1988
- Opinion in U.S. v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), July 24, 1974
Additional Resources
Our Interactive Constitution is the leading digital resource about the debates and text behind the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution. Here, scholars from across the legal and philosophical spectrum interact with each other to explore the meaning of each provision of our founding document.
Common Interpretation
The Vesting Clause By Saikrishna B. Prakash And Christopher H. Schroeder
Matters of Debate
The Significance of “Executive Power" By Saikrishna B. Prakash
The Most Compelling Reading of the Vesting Clause By Christopher H. Schroeder
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