But only norms and precedents, not laws, prevent this. In our system, the attorney general and the director of the F.B.I. sit within the executive branch and answer to the president.
How might a politically motivated prosecution actually unfold? The steps below show exactly how Trump could make his threats real — all while staying within the constitutional limits on presidential power.
The Constitution is a very short document, you can read the whole thing in about 10 minutes or so. It does not include very much in the way of details, generally speaking.
Reading it when you’re young is one thing, you don’t really understand how systems come together anyway at that age. Rereading it as an adult is a bit of an eye-opener though, as it’s easy to see just how little it really establishes, and what sorts of directions abuses could potentially come from.
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
In general, preventing abuse via static rules is really difficult. People who want to abuse the system are innovative. Most systems really depend on having people who respond to the abuse by stopping it more than having specific written rules to block the kinds of abuse that have happened in the past.
Well SCOTUS just kind threw and constitutional protections out the window with regards to Presidential Powers anyway, so now it seems you can make an argument out of anything and do the damage before anyone blinks.