"The attributes of perfection, ascribed to the king, are, neither by the constitution, nor in fact, communicable to his ministers. They may do wrong: they have often done wrong: they have been often punished for doing wrong." (1 Collected Works 43–44) 3/3

"We say, that the king can do no wrong: we say, that to do wrong is the property, not of power, but of weakness. ... Our constitution tells us, that all oppression springs from the ministers of the throne." 2/3

12/12 Given that recent Presidents all seem to consider themselves in the mold of a Teddy Roosevelt, it'll be interesting to see if the Court continues to buy into that theory when such issues come before it.

11/12 It seems strange that the formalists on the Court have seemed to adopt Taft's views of the executive power with respect to removal—see Gorsuch in Collins v. Yellen, Thomas in Seila Law, and Scalia in Morrison—but not elsewhere, see Trump v. United States.

10/12 "[T]he orbit of his activities is always strictly marked out by the Constitution. And his every step must have the justification of law. For, fundamentally, ours is a government of law. Whatever is done must have the warrant of law."

9/12 "[To him, the President] is the chief magistrate of the nation, charged with very high and important duties, vested with a wide measure of discretion in their discharge, and laden with heavy responsibilities."

8/12 "In [Taft's] view, it was incorrect to describe the President as the ‘steward of the people’ or as the ‘guardian of the public welfare.’"

7/12 "To the conservative and well-trained legal mind of Mr. Taft the idea of a government by personal impulse, or even by the exercise of the judgment and discretion of any one man, was little short of abhorrent."

6/12 But perhaps even more interesting is how Black contrasted Roosevelt's vision of the presidency with that of William Howard Taft's (pp. 30–32):

5/12 "... Of course it is a necessary deduction from this theory that the President can exert his powers in any direction that is not barred by the Constitution. And this is the very core of the problem."

4/12 "... which is not restricted to the specific functions thereafter enumerated, but on the contrary is circumscribed only in so far as the Constitution explicitly limits it. ...

3/12 Black attributes much of the shift to Teddy Roosevelt's presidency (pp. 23–30): "[W]hat [Roosevelt] did, consciously or unconsciously, was to revive and apply the doctrine of Hamilton, that the Constitution contains a general grant of executive power, ...

2/12 "[I]f it were not the outcome of a natural process of evolution working through a long period of years, it would bear the stigmata of revolution, and if it had been achieved in a single presidential term, it would have been denounced as a coup d'etat."

5/ 5/ The historical background is detailed here, by
@andrewkent33, Ethan Leib, and me, "Faithful Execution and Article II," @HarvLRev 2019:
harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-13...