An American president appoints some four thousand officials, and the Senate confirms the most senior. Beneath them work two million civil servants, and beside them inspectors, prosecutors and agency heads whom the law or long habit shields from political orders. This president has dismissed people at every level, among them his own appointees, and has placed personal lawyers and allies at the head of the justice department, the FBI and the intelligence services. The question is whether an official's duty runs to the president or to the law.
The wider conflict and each side's full account: America's conflict over presidential power.
Where it stands · October 2026
In September 2026 the prime minister of Japan set out plans for a cabinet reshuffle with Ishin. The director of the FBI defended changes to the bureau's hiring policy at a Senate hearing. A prosecutor the president had picked for a Justice Department investigation resigned after a clash with the attorney general. In October the government moved against a judge over remarks to the media.
What the dispute is about
Whom officials serve. The constitution vests executive power in the president, and officials swear an oath to the constitution, not to him. Most of the time the two do not collide. When a president asks for an investigation of an opponent, they do.
The justice department. No law makes it independent. Since Watergate, presidents of both parties kept away from individual cases by custom. This president says the custom was a fiction that was used against him, and directs cases openly.
Protected posts. Congress gave inspectors, members of commissions and civil servants protection from dismissal without cause. The administration holds that most such protections are unconstitutional and has dismissed first and argued later.
