恢复政府廉洁和问责的行政行动

美国的民主迫切需要更新. In coming years, one of the great issues facing the country will be the presidency itself.

A half century ago, 水门事件和越南战争之后, 旨在遏制“帝王总统制”的法律和规则.在几十年的时间里，这些限制逐渐消失，最终被抛弃. The past three years have seen a refusal to honor oversight and a politicization of the executive branch. The president insists the Constitution gives him “the right to do whatever I want.“今年夏天拉法叶公园的滥用权力是最明显的, and most violent, example of shattered norms.

In this time of reckoning, a great task must be to reset the system of checks and balances and once again restore the presidency to its rightful place.

This volume includes the first set of recommendations for executive actions from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. 这些措施的重点是加强道德规范, transparency, and accountability; curbing political influence in law enforcement; enhancing the role of expertise and science throughout government; empowering congressional oversight; and preventing improper uses of emergency powers.

国会必须尽其所能发挥宪法赋予的作用. Courts, too, must step up.

But the president can lead, 展示亚历山大·汉密尔顿所说的“行政人员的能量”,“这次不是为了大幅扩大总统权力, 而是为了让政府恢复其应有的角色.

We the people have a duty as well: to insist that our leaders commit to the Constitution and make renewal of our democracy not just one issue among many, 而是我们国家的中心任务.

Michael Waldman
President 
Brennan Center for Justice
October 2020
 

Introduction

我们的民主正处于一个关键时刻.

The Covid-19 pandemic has urgently underscored the need for a federal government that can focus on the public interest, 是否有合格的专业人员, and values expertise. 任何不足都会造成生命损失，并危及国家的复苏. footnote1_6o80mt1 1 Instead, 特朗普政府最初淡化了这场危机, 然后打算通过让科学专家靠边站来解决这个威尼斯真人, favoring political allies, 将政治置于美国人的健康之上. 这种有严重缺陷的回应是美国为什么会采取行动的原因之一.S. 目前的Covid-19病例比地球上任何其他国家都多. 参见“特朗普淡化冠状病毒的44次” Washington Post, May 6, 2020, http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/34-times-trump-downplayed-the-coronavirus/2020/03/05/790f5afb-4dda-48bf-abe1-b7d152d5138c_video.html; James Hohmann, "每日202:被驱逐的疫苗专家, Alleging Retaliation, 特朗普时代首位科学家不是被边缘化了吗,” Washington Post, Apr. 23, 2020, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2020/04/23/daily-202-ousted-vaccine-expert-alleging-retaliation-is-not-the-first-scientist-sidelined-in-trump-era/5ea11bf588e0fa34528d7574; Jonathan Allen, Phil McCausland, and Cyrus Farivar, “Behind Closed Doors, 特朗普的冠状病毒工作组推动了行业发展，引发了混乱,” NBC News, Apr. 11, 2020, http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-coronavirus-task-force-amassed-power-it-boosted-industry-n1180786; and Isaac Stanley-Becker, Toluse Olorunnipa, and Seung Min Kim, “特朗普煽动对民主党强制关闭政府的抵制, 但一些共和党州长也担心行动太快,” Washington Post, Apr. 17, 2020, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-foments-resistance-to-democratic-imposed-shutdowns-but-some-republican-governors-are-also-wary-of-moving-too-fast/2020/04/17/5595e5fa-80c2-11ea-9040-68981f488eed_story.html?itid=ap_toluseolorunnipa.

甚至在大流行来袭之前, 这些护栏在我们的历史上确保了诚实, 有效的联邦政府被严重削弱. There is no question that the norms and practices ensuring ethical governance and the rule of law have degraded substantially. Federal officials have increasingly abused their power by using law enforcement for political purposes, 利用他们的地位获得财务收益, 削弱了客观科学和研究在决策中的作用, 任命不合格的候选人担任政府要职. Meanwhile, 广泛的选民抑制, foreign interference, 政治上金钱的激增, and the weakening of Congress’s role as a check on the executive branch have undermined many Americans’ faith in our elections and political system — even before the pandemic posed new voting challenges. footnote2_bei9qld 2 According to a 2019 poll, less than 30 percent of Americans today said they could trust government in Washington to do what is right “just about always or most of the time.“公众对政府的信任:1958-2019”，皮尤研究中心，4月. 11, 2019, http://www.people-press.org/2019/04/11/public -信任- -政府- 1958 - 2019.

A bipartisan task force of former senior government officials convened by the Brennan Center for Justice has proposed a comprehensive legislative agenda to restore the checks that previously constrained executive action and prevented abuses of executive power. Even more significant, as their first order of business after retaking the House of Representatives on a strong reform platform, congressional Democrats last year introduced and passed a landmark pair of bills to fix our democracy and give every American a voice: H.R. 1、《威尼斯真人》.R. 4、投票权进步法案.

而立法无疑是必要的, the next president doesn’t have to wait for Capitol Hill to begin fixing the system. This report proposes 22 executive actions — executive orders, memoranda, and other directives footnote3_1hu2pz8 3 不像备忘录和指令, executive orders are required to be published in the Code of Federal Regulations. 澳门威尼斯真人地址不同类型的行政行动的讨论，见Vivian S. Chu and Todd Garvey, “Executive Orders: Issuance, Modification, and Revocation,” CRS Report No. RS20846(华盛顿特区:国会研究服务，2014)， http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS20846.pdf; Randolph D. Moss, 署理助理司法部长, "总统指令的法律效力, 与行政命令相比”(官方备忘录, Washington, DC: Department of Justice, Jan. 29, 2000), http://fas.org/irp/offdocs/predirective.html; and “Executive Order, Proclamation, or Executive Memorandum?“国会图书馆，2020年5月14日访问， http://guides.loc.gov/executive-orders/order-proclamation-memorandum. — that would restore the integrity of government and strengthen our democracy. 所有这些都完全在总统的权限之内.

重建防止滥用行政权力的护栏, the president should issue orders and directives focusing on five areas: preventing improper political interference in law enforcement, 加强道德规范和利益冲突规则, 支持科学研究在决策中的完整性, 推动任命合格的行政部门官员, 尊重国会作为政府平等分支的角色. In each of these areas, 民主党和共和党政府都认识到了种种限制, but as recent abuses show, the unwritten norms of conduct that previously ensured integrity in government can too easily be cast aside. 需要正式的书面规则.

让我们的选举更公平, the president should issue orders and directives focusing on three additional areas: shoring up campaign finance enforcement and other safeguards, 支持选举安全, 以及扩大选民名单.

Together, the actions detailed in this report would signal a clear break from the abuses of the recent past and would be a significant step toward restoring faith in American democracy. 通过强调这些威尼斯真人的紧迫性, 他们还可以帮助削弱经常困扰国会的僵局.

这类行政行为有很多先例. footnote4_azjsrk1 4 Michael Waldman和Inimai Chettiar，编., 15 Executive Actions布伦南司法中心，2014年12月， http://www.fannyleung.com/sites/default/files/2019-08/Report_15_Executive_Actions.pdf. Many of these actions track the approach taken in legislation introduced in Congress in recent years or in the legislative recommendations of the Brennan Center’s bipartisan task force.

这种大流行病最终将被克服, 但这些现实依然存在:所有美国人, 不管政治倾向如何, want government officials to put the public interest ahead of their own political or personal gain. 所有美国人都希望自己的声音和选票发挥作用. 下一任总统有权迅速实现这些威尼斯真人.