David Zheng

On Friday, Samuel Moyn, law professor and head of Grace Hopper College, hosted an open Q&A at his Head of College House, discussing constitutional law during the Trump administration.

Moyn described the Q&A as an informal, non-partisan conversation about legal claims surrounding the new Trump administration. 

“I’m personally not neutral, but what I think is really important to understand is that the law is about having two sides,” Moyn said. “We should try to understand the way the other side is interpreting the same law.” 

Alex Moore ’26, the event’s co-host, began the session by asking several questions that addressed constitutional interpretations and the role of other government branches in checking presidential authority.

Moore first asked about the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, specifically about the legality of the recent firings of tens of thousands of government employees. 

Moyn began by explaining the “unitary executive theory,” a longstanding legal argument on the political right. The theory stems from a clause in Article II that states that all executive power is vested in the president. 

“If you believe in the unitary executive, you believe that the President doesn’t have to tolerate employees who he didn’t choose or doesn’t want anymore,” he said. 

Moyn also touched on how historically, under the spoils system, presidents could appoint loyalists with little legal restriction. In the 20th century, the Supreme Court began to set limits on this power for agencies such as the Federal Reserve.

Another argument against the unitary executive theory is the civil service protections, which allow Congress to protect government employees from firing.

However, Moyn expressed that recent Supreme Court decisions seem to indicate a shift towards the Unitary Executive theory. 

According to Moyn, Trump v. United States, a case that decided whether Trump would be provided immunity from certain criminal indictment after leaving office, leans into the theory.  

“Some people are saying we missed the point of that decision. It wasn’t about immunity. Chief Justice John Roberts literally wrote that the President is a branch of government in the constitutional system, and if you believe that, then it seems like a lot of the firings are possible,” said Moyn. 

Following the discussion of DOGE, Moore moved to the recent deportation of hundreds of U.S. residents to a large prison complex in El Salvador. 

“This is heavily disputed in the courts around whether that’s legal, especially regarding the residency status of the people who were deported,” he said. 

Moyn began his response by sharing his most pressing concern with current political dynamics. 

“My bottom line on all of today’s topics, and this one is the most flagrant, is that it is extraordinary how much power the presidency has been given,” said Moyn. 

He explained that there are laws on the books that have never truly been invoked — such as the power given to Congress to declare war, even though the president has bestowed that power in practice since World War II — but are now being invoked by Trump. 

In the case of recent deportations, Trump invoked a law passed after the American Revolution that grants the president enormous authority to deport enemies during times of geopolitical strife, even though the law was initially meant for enemies of states at war with the U.S.

Moore also raised questions about Mahmoud Khalil’s case as a free speech issue and Trump’s Executive Order to end birthright citizenship. 

After Moyn finished providing thorough responses to Moore’s questions, the hosts opened up to the guests. 

Towards the end of the session, the conversation shifted to the withholding of funding from Ivy League universities. 

Henry Wykoff ’28 asked Moyn whether the movement to cut funding from elite universities is a movement against broader education and that the Trump administration “would prefer to see the government’s long-held idea of upholding and supporting education demolished.”

Moyn did not provide a concrete answer to the question, but shared his concern with this proposition. 

“What’s ‘Make America Great Again’ in a trade war with other countries when you’re not educating workers,” he said. 

Moyn was appointed as the Grace Hopper Head of College in 2024.