Today marks one year since President Trump took the oath of office for the second time.

Over the past 12 months, the president has pushed the boundaries of executive power,

challenged the Constitution, and reshaped the federal government.

He's imposed unilateral tariffs, asserted control over independent agencies.

The Department of Justice has launched investigations into his political opponents.

He's deployed the National Guard and active duty troops to American cities over the objections

of local officials. He's launched military operations in Venezuela and Iran while threatening

action in Greenland. And he's followed through on his pledge to carry out a nationwide mass deportation

campaign. To help make sense of all these moves, we're returning this week to guests from our

On Democracy series, which explores the laws, institutions, and norms that have shaped this country

and the different pressures they face today. Our first conversation is with Ilya Shapiro, a senior

fellow at the Conservative Manhattan Institute. Welcome back to the program. Good to be back with you.

I know in speaking with you that you believe that presidents deserve wide latitude to execute their

agendas. But at what point does expansive use of presidential power cross the line into abuse of power?

Well, I don't think that presidents get wide deference just by sake of being presidents.

There are constitutional limits.

There are separation of powers.

And what we've seen in the last year, just in terms of court cases, especially what we've

seen from the Supreme Court, is that the president does get a lot of leeway in reorganizing

the executive branch. He's the head of the executive branch. We'll see, I think, the Supreme

Court is going to rule that he gets to remove the heads of executive branch agencies.

On the other hand, when the president tries to make his own laws or change the laws in some way,

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