James Taranto
Editorial Features Editor at The Wall Street Journal
Editorial Features Editor, in charge of @WSJ op-ed pages. Best of the Web columnist 2000-17. 'Aged to perfection with just the right amount of bite.'--ChatGPT
Articles
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1 month ago |
wsj.com | James Taranto
An acknowledgment of his inability in a second term would have brought a real constitutional crisis. Every time Donald Trump is president, we hear histrionic blather about a “constitutional crisis.” If Joe Biden had ducked last year’s debates and gone on to beat Mr. Trump in November, we would be facing a real constitutional crisis about now. To understand why, read the 25th Amendment. Ratified in 1967, it clarified the rules of presidential and vice-presidential succession and disability.
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1 month ago |
wsj.com | James Taranto
They’re the only officials besides the president who exercise constitutional authority unilaterally, particularly when they issue nationwide injunctions. James C. Ho of the Fifth Circuit says they often abuse that power. If the president is the most powerful official in the U.S. government, who is second? The House speaker? Neither he nor any Senate leader can do anything without a majority and agreement from the other chamber, the president or both. The chief justice?
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2 months ago |
wsj.com | James Taranto
The Oval Office, like a judge’s chambers, is off-limits to the other government branches. ‘It’s a huge victory for both the AP and the free press,” Axios’s Sara Fischer wrote of the preliminary injunction Judge Trevor McFadden issued Tuesday in Associated Press v. Budowich. But the victory may prove fleeting—Judge McFadden stayed his order until Sunday to allow for an appeal—and there’s less to it than meets the eye.
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Mar 24, 2025 |
wsj.com | James Taranto
Mr. Trump can cement his civil-rights legacy by enlisting the most fearsome agency of the U.S. government: the Internal Revenue Service. In the process, he can help the Supreme Court clean up a messy bit of jurisprudence from the Burger era: Bob Jones University v. U.S. (1983).
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Mar 21, 2025 |
wsj.com | James Taranto
Nobody ever accused Donald Trump of being high-minded, and I decline the opportunity to be the first to do so. But many of his early second-term actions serve an elevated purpose: restoring constitutional integrity and democratic accountability to the U.S. government. In this effort Mr. Trump is working in resonance, although not in concert, with Chief Justice John Roberts.
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1,000 letters is around 200 words. May we all achieve such brevity.
I just met with Education Secretary Linda McMahon, and I gave her over 1,000 letters from people across the country who are worried about what she's doing to the Department of Education. https://t.co/8MiGSGKMlp
I saw at least 3 tweets from FIRE guys making the same claim about "jawboning"--including the one from the boss, to which I originally responded--so I assumed it was an institutional position. In any case, I doubt you're going to get into trouble and I'll back you if you do.
@jamestaranto @TheFIREorg Biden first said it on the campaign trail. He also said Zuck should face criminal penalties which is even worse (also included in the litany)! Curious why you tagged FIRE. Do you think you're going to get me in trouble for having the temerity to disagree with you? Weird look.
Wondering who @TheFIREorg regarded as president in July 2021.
And I seem to recall many (including WSJ's Ed Board) including Biden's (who wasn't even president at the time!) statement that Facebook was "killing people" in the litany of jawboning allegations. But now public statements mean it's not jawboning? Hmm... https://t.co/xm93bY5AiV