Assignment: Presidency

It is September 2024 and the future of democracy is at stake. The United States is on the brink of a cyber war with the country of Bruinlandia. The President of the United States, Tommy Trojan, fears the CEOs of the major social media platforms used by U.S. citizens will begin an onslaught of fake news in citizens' social media feeds. To protect his people, President Trojan and his Cabinet members concoct a plan to bribe, threaten, and blackmail the CEOs of the social media platforms so they will turn over control of their websites to the U.S. government. In creating this plan, President Trojan and the members of his Cabinet have met in recorded Cabinet meetings and have exchanged numerous emails.

The plan is put into action; however, the CEOs do not concede power of their social media platforms to the U.S. government. In a dramatic next move, President Trojan issues an executive order ordering the NSA to seize control of all social media platforms on behalf of the government. The CEO of MyFace, one of the social media platforms, sues President Trojan in federal court, seeking an injunction to stop him from seizing control of the websites. The initial court filings reveal President Trojan threatened and attempted to bribe the MyFace CEO. As such, a newly-appointed special prosecutor decides to criminally investigate President Trojan, and obtains a subpoena requesting the tapes of the Cabinet meetings and communications between President Trojan and his Cabinet members about the plan. President Trojan plans to oppose the subpoena by arguing executive privilege.

(i) What will come of President Trojan's fate on the success of his executive order? [10 points]

(ii) What will come of President Trojan's fate on his opposition to the subpoena based on executive privilege? [10 points]

Instructions

This week you will answer some questions about the presidency. Use the following link to download the questions for this week:

Presidency Questions

1. Your answer should be in the IRAC format.
2. Each question will have its own IRAC. There are two questions in the fact pattern.