'If You Can Keep It': Trump's Early Moves And The Constitution

Published January 28, 2025 at 9:03 AM EST

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

The first week of President Trump's new term ended with a late-night purge of around 17 federal inspectors general on Friday.

The exact total is still unclear. Trump said the move was a, quote, "very standard thing to do." But federal law requires a 30-day notification to Congress before inspectors general can be removed from their posts. A number of these inspectors were actually appointed by Trump in his first term.

Also, in the first week of his second term – four Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit to stop President Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship. On Thursday a federal judge in Seattle temporarily halted the implementation of the order, calling it, quote, "blatantly unconstitutional."

Our series, "If You Can Keep It," cuts through political noise to consider the state of our Democratic Republic and what matters to you. We discuss the IG purge and take a closer look at the legal challenges to Trump's early moves.

How does the Constitution guide our understanding of executive power today?

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