The Ultimate Triumph of the Unitary Executive - The Atlantic
theatlantic.com
A fringe legal theory born fifty years ago just became settled American law — and it hands the executive branch a grip on power its founders never imagined.
Unitary Executive TheorySeparation of PowersConstitutional OriginalismPrincipal-Agent Problem
Theory Briefing
- A once-radical idea — that the president alone controls all executive power — has shifted from legal fringe to binding American law over fifty years.
- The theory's triumph reshapes the balance between branches, concentrating authority in the White House in ways critics say were never intended.
- The Atlantic frames this not as a gradual drift but as a decisive, completed transformation — a half-century project now fully realized.