Since the beginning of the Republic, the President's chief advisor in the interpretation of the Constitution has been the Attorney General. The opinions of the Attorneys General on constitutional topics are official statements of the executive branch's views, and in many circumstances where a constitutional question cannot come before a court, their opinions provide the final answer. This book offers the most important constitutional opinions of the Attorneys General and the Department of Justice from Edmund Randolph (President Washington's first Attorney General) to Janet Reno. Powell's commentary provides biographical and historical context to enhance the reader's appreciation of the opinions, which cover such topics as the separation of powers, the authority of Congress and the President over matters of war and peace, the nature of citizenship, and the executive's responsibilities with respect to statutes that the President believes unconstitutional. The opinions are presented in full text and with original pagination, making The Constitution and the Attorneys General a fully independent research tool. A variety of indices and tables give the reader full access to the executive branch's two-century-long tradition of construing and applying the Constitution. "A superb and invaluable source book for graduate students in political science, historians, and legal scholars." -- CHOICE Magazine

NATIONAL BESTSELLER “Elie Honig has written much more than a compelling takedown of an unfit attorney general; he also offers a blueprint for how impartial and apolitical justice should be administered in America.”—Preet Bharara “An essential analysis for anyone committed to understanding the abuses of the Trump administration so we can ensure they never happen again.”—Joyce White Vance “Essential reading for all who cherish the rule of law in America.”—George Conway "Written with all the color and pacing of a legal thriller."—Variety CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig exposes William Barr as the most corrupt attorney general in modern U.S. history, with stunning new scandals bubbling to the surface even after Barr's departure from office. In Hatchet Man, former federal prosecutor Elie Honig uncovers Barr’s unprecedented abuse of power as Attorney General and the lasting structural damage done to the Justice Department. Honig uses his own experience as a prosecutor at DOJ to show how, as America’s top law enforcement official, Barr repeatedly violated the Department’s written rules, and those vital, unwritten norms and principles that comprise the “prosecutor’s code.” Barr was corrupt from the beginning. His first act as AG was to distort the findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, earning a public rebuke for his dishonesty from Mueller himself and, later, from a federal judge. Then, Barr tried to manipulate the law to squash a whistleblower’s complaint about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine—the report that eventually led to Trump’s first impeachment. Barr later intervened in an unprecedented manner to undermine his own DOJ prosecutors on the cases of Michael Flynn and Roger Stone, both political allies of the President. And then Barr fired the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York under false pretenses. Finally, Barr amplified baseless theories about massive mail-in ballot fraud, pouring gasoline on the dumpster fire battle over the 2020 election results and contributing to the January 6 insurrection that led to Trump’s second impeachment. In Hatchet Man, Honig proves that Barr trampled the two core virtues that have long defined the department and its mission: credibility and independence – ultimately in service of his own deeply-rooted, extremist legal and personal beliefs. Honig shows how Barr corrupted the Justice Department and explains what we must do to prevent this from ever happening again.