If elected in 2024, could Donald Trump use his presidential power to stop the criminal proceedings against him, even if such actions would likely qualify as obstruction of justice? In an article for New York University Journal of Legislation & Public Policy, CERL Faculty Director Claire Finkelstein and Prof. Richard Painter of the University of Minnesota explore this question, examining the conflicts that could arise between the authority of the President under Article II to remove executive branch officers and other federal laws or criminal statutes.

Claire Finkelstein is the Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. She is founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL), a non-partisan interdisciplinary institute affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC). She is a distinguished research fellow at APPC and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI). Her current research addresses national security law and policy, democratic governance, and professional ethics. Read her bio here.