Attorney General, Mock Memorandum
Task: “You have been appointed Attorney General by the newly elected president. As the president takes office, she seeks your expertise as the chief legal officer for the executive branch. She wants advice on the extent of her constitutional powers and the constraints she is likely to encounter in pursuing her agenda, especially because she faces a Congress controlled by the other party. The president wants to know both the relevant case law, constitutional text, and historical trends and whether or not they cut in her favor. She is particularly concerned about the likelihood of success in pursuing the following policies:
Trying to keep the Supreme Court out of the inevitable fights with Congress
Conducting the ongoing “War on Terror” through aggressive military, intelligence and law enforcement efforts, regardless of whether Congress agrees with her tactics;
Announcing that she will vigorously defend executive privilege claims in reaction to the current hostile climate in D.C. where investigations launched for partisan purposes demand the production of documents from the White House or threaten the possibility of criminal investigations or civil lawsuits.”
