Reassert Congressional Authority Over Executive Overreach

Congress must reassert its Article I authority — now. Trump's National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 is a case study in executive branch overreach: it instructs the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces, the Treasury Department, and the IRS to investigate civil society groups, activists, nonprofits, and donors using vague labels like "anti-Americanism" and "extremism on migration, race, and gender." These are First Amendment-protected beliefs. A presidential memo cannot rewrite that, but it can weaponize existing bureaucratic machinery against political opponents while Congress watches. The pattern here is not new. COINTELPRO targeted Black leaders and civil rights organizations. Post-9/11 reforms were gutted. Now 200 JTTFs with minimal transparency are being pointed at domestic political activity. Congress already made it a felony for the president to direct politically-motivated IRS investigations — that law exists because lawmakers understood this exact threat. The question is whether you will enforce it. Demand full disclosure of JTTF targeting criteria, hold hearings on NSPM-7's implementation, and pass binding legislation that closes the loopholes allowing memos to substitute for law. The Office of Legal Counsel does not get to rewrite statutes. You do. Use that power.