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111 Va. L. Rev. 1 (2025)

handle is hein.journals/valr111 and id is 1 raw text is: COPYRIGHT © 2025 VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW ASSOCIATION VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW VOLUME 111 MARCH 2025 NUMBER 1 ARTICLES THE FEARLESS EXECUTIVE, CRIME, AND THE SEPARATION OF POWERS Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash* Trump v. United States's discovery ofbroad immunity has rendered the presidency more imperial and unaccountable. This Article tackles four questions. First, are the Constitution's grants of specific and distinct privileges and immunities for federal officials illustrative of a broader, ifimplicit, set ofprivileges and immunities? Second, what limits, ifany, does the Constitution impose on the power of Congress to criminalize the constitutional acts of the President, members of Congress, and the courts? Consider whether a federal judge can be prosecuted for her allegedly corrupt judicial judgment, one meant to satisfy a bribe previously received. Third, even ifthe Constitution grants immunity for constitutional acts, does it bestow any immunityfor statutory acts? The Court held there was at least a presumptive immunity for presidents without pausing to discuss why the Constitution would implicitly immunize a branch's exercise of statutory authority. Finally, when should we read a generic statute to cover the official acts of * James Monroe Distinguished Professor of Law & Miller Center Senior Fellow, University of Virginia School of Law. Gratitude to John Duffy, John Harrison, Deborah Hellman, Adam Samaha, Larry Solum, Amanda Tyler, Steve Walt, and the participants in the Berkeley Public Law Workshop, the NYU Constitutional Interpretation Seminar, and the Virginia Summer Faculty Workshop for criticisms and comments on early drafts. Thanks to Barrett Anderson, Shannon Bader, David Bainbridge, Erin Brown, Edward Colombo, Eric Dement, Trey Kieser, Kawit Promrat, Avery Rasmussen Phillips, Lauren Rich, Kanishk Singh, Christian Talley, and TJ Whittle for edits and research assistance. Thanks to the research librarians at the UVA Law Library for research support. Thanks to UVA Law for summer research support. This Article reflects developments through January 2025, when it was finalized and prepared for print. 1

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