The media has noted President Trump’s termination of inspectors general from more than a dozen federal agencies but has overlooked a larger threat to presidential control of the executive branch. Congress intentionally insulated the Council of the Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency from presidential control, essentially leaving it accountable to no one. Cigie—pronounced “Siggy”—is…

“They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you, and I’m just standing in the way.” President Trump, while varying the formulation, regularly jibes that sentiment when speaking to Americans. Mr. Trump, moreover, has never been more correct in his assessment than now. The “they,” however, is no longer Democrats, the Deep State, or even…

The Trump administration’s desire to dismantle the Education Department has inspired some alarm. Those panicking would do well to remember a key historical fact: One of the leading advocates of creating such a department was the Ku Klux Klan. Congress authorized today’s Education Department in 1979, transferring authority over federal education policy from the 1953…

There’s reason to hope for at least a temporary move toward fiscal sanity in Washington. Ordinarily, a drive for a slimmed-down federal budget would last little longer than a New Year’s dieting resolution. What gives credibility to the current federal weight-loss plans is the commitment of some outsize characters. President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and…

New York state bluntly informed President-elect Trump’s lawyers this week that it won’t agree to vacate the massive civil fraud judgment against him and his family. Although the state’s intransigence surely disappoints Mr. Trump and his family, it isn’t altogether regrettable. The case can now proceed, which means it will clarify our freedom of speech.…

In Orwell’s 1984, after years of war against Eurasia as Eastasia’s ally, Oceania abruptly switches sides, becoming Eurasia’s ally against Eastasia. Instead of articulating a policy change, the government simply rewrote history to declare that “Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.” The modern Administrative State uses the same Orwellian tactic to rewrite the law.…