The U.S. Supreme Court surprised many constitutional lawyers last summer, when it granted presidents “absolute immunity” for their official acts. How has that ruling affected foreign-policy decisions in the first six months of the second Trump administration?
On this episode of “The Diplomacy Podcast,” we discuss the impact of the high court’s decision on the checks and constraints on executive power that have long existed in the U.S. democratic system.
My guest is Elizabeth Saunders, professor of political science at Columbia University. Having studied the gradual weakening of those checks over decades, she concludes that the 2024 ruling “essentially unbounds the presidency from the constraints of the law.”
“I’m not suggesting that the presidency was a pious follower of rules in the foreign-policy realm previously. Far from it… But there was always the shadow of the political costs of breaking the law or pushing the envelope. I think this just stripped away all pretense.”
Congress used to be more involved in foreign policy, especially when it came to trade, but it has now abdicated that responsibility, Saunders says.
“We’ve now begun to see that the United States has systematically dismantled the checks and constraints on the presidency in the foreign-policy realm. It’s fair to say that we now have the foreign policy of a personalist dictatorship.”
As always, my guest’s opinions don’t necessarily represent my own views.
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Nicholas Kralev is the founder and executive director of the Washington International Diplomatic Academy, and a former Financial Times and Washington Times correspondent. His books include “Diplomatic Tradecraft,” “America’s Other Army” and “Diplomats in the Trenches.”
