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Issues Under Review

ARRP investigates possible institutional weaknesses before deciding whether they warrant a proposal. This page lets readers see which subjects are already being researched, developed, held for a defined reason, or monitored for an external development.

Appearing here does not mean that ARRP has concluded that misconduct occurred, that existing law is inadequate, or that a new reform should be adopted. A candidate may ultimately be admitted, narrowed, merged into another issue, deferred, retired, or found to be adequately addressed by existing law.

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If your concern is not listed, ask ARRP to review it. If it is already listed, you can still contribute a new source, a missing example, a materially different institutional weakness, or a better remedy.

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Use the site search or your browser's find command to check an identifier, agency, court, public official, or subject. The Explore by Topic and Subject and Institution Index provide additional routes to developed proposals.

Current through July 26, 2026.

  • 1 preliminary candidates in early review
  • 2 active investigations
  • 10 other formal candidates under development or review
  • 5 candidates waiting on evidence or a defined trigger
  • 30 established issues watching external developments

Early Review

These newly logged concerns are undergoing initial scope, overlap, and evidence screening. Their inclusion is not a decision to retain them as formal candidates or admit them as project issues.

Preliminary candidate Initial concern
INTAKE-GAP-013 — Executive Circumvention of Congressionally Assigned Smithsonian Governance A President may use executive-controlled property, appropriations administration, contracts, or other agency leverage to displace or circumvent governance authority that Congress assigned to a cross-branch public trust institution, without obtaining a statutory change or a decision through that institution's governing board.

Active Investigations

These questions are undergoing defined evidence gathering or empirical research.

Investigation What ARRP is determining
HOR-035 — Executive Review Evasion Through Withdrawal, Replacement, Settlement, or Mootness Executive defendants may withdraw, replace, narrow, settle, or temporarily cease challenged conduct after harm occurs and thereby avoid a durable merits ruling without repairing the underlying authority or process weakness.
HOR-037 — Immigration Detention, Removal Process, and Access Safeguards Civil immigration detention, transfer, or removal may be completed or materially advanced before meaningful judicial review can occur, making a later legal victory incapable of fully repairing the harm.

Other Formal Candidates

These subjects have reached formal candidacy and are being defined, source-developed, or evaluated for admission, merger, or retirement.

Candidate What ARRP is examining
HOR-026 — Presidential Withdrawal or Constructive Withdrawal from International Commitments Presidential formal or constructive withdrawal from congressionally or Senate-approved international organizations, alliances, treaty commitments, and comparable international institutions through withdrawal notices, participation suspension, deliberate arrears, representative vacancies, or circumvention of statutory safeguards.
HOR-027 — Presidential Policymaking Through Privately Controlled Social Media A President may use a personal or privately controlled social-media account as the initial or exclusive channel for major policy decisions, directives, foreign-policy positions, or other consequential official announcements.
HOR-029 — Presidential Self-Dealing Through an Officially Favored Private Platform Presidential use of an officially favored communications platform in which the President retains a substantial beneficial financial interest may allow a president-beneficial company to monetize official conduct and information.
HOR-033 — Enforceability of Accessibility Duties for Presidential Communications Existing accessibility duties for presidential and White House communications may lack a sufficiently explicit private enforcement route or sufficiently timely remedy.
HOR-039 — Functional Accessibility of Existing Lawful Immigration and Residency Pathways Lawful immigration and residency pathways created by Congress may become functionally inaccessible when statutory eligibility is not matched by adequate processing capacity, transparent queue administration, reasonable timelines, status-continuity protections, consistent standards, records access, or meaningful review.
HOR-040 — Safeguards for Broad Presidential Tariff Delegations Economically consequential tariffs may be imposed, escalated, negotiated, or selectively waived under several broad trade-statute delegations without contemporaneous legislative approval or uniform safeguards.
HOR-041 — Safeguards for Class-Based Presidential Entry Suspensions INA section 212(f) may permit broad class-based entry suspensions through generalized detrimental-interest findings without a sufficiently specific statutory nexus, fixed duration, transparent record, or timely review.
HOR-042 — Minimum Safeguards for Presidential Statutory Waivers Statutes may authorize a President to suspend enacted substantive or procedural safeguards through broad findings without consistent minimum requirements for reasons, scope, duration, notice, reporting, or review.
HOR-043 — Presidential Recognition of International Bodies With Domestic Legal Privileges Existing law may permit a President to recognize an international body, determine U.S. participation, and confer federal privileges, exemptions, and immunities without a distinct congressional participation decision or clear accountability safeguards.
HOR-044 — Statutory Framework for Presidential Cross-Border Infrastructure Permits Cross-border pipelines, railways, bridges, and comparable facilities may be approved through a presidential permitting system created substantially by executive practice without uniform statutory criteria or procedures, and some decisions may fall outside ordinary APA review.

Candidates Waiting on a Trigger

These remain visible, but further work is postponed or cannot responsibly proceed until the stated evidence, decision, expertise, or external event becomes available.

Candidate Present posture and question
HOR-010 — Immigration-courthouse arrests and courthouse-access chilling Deferred. Immigration-courthouse arrests and the risk that enforcement activity deters participation in immigration or other judicial proceedings.
HOR-023 — Foreign Election Interference and Campaign Counterintelligence Safeguards Deferred. Foreign election interference and campaign counterintelligence safeguards arising from the Mueller Report foreign-interference record and related Durham/FISA process source-development questions.
HOR-031 — Durability and Revocation of National Monument Protections Blocked. An already-established national monument may lack durable protection if a successor President can unilaterally abolish it or materially diminish its protected boundary.
HOR-038 — Endangered Species Act Regulatory-Boundary Monitoring Deferred. Finalized 2026 regulations under ESA sections 4(d) and 4(b)(2) may reveal a statutory-boundary or timely-remedy weakness if delegated discretion displaces congressionally prescribed decision criteria or causes difficult-to-repair loss before review.
HOR-045 — Immigration-Enforcement Vehicle-Stop Safeguards Deferred. Immigration-enforcement vehicle stops may lack sufficiently durable and measurable safeguards for particularized suspicion, target verification, documentation, signaling, de-escalation, and public reporting.

Established Issues Being Monitored

These are already part of the project. ARRP is watching a materially relevant court case, official action, implementation record, investigation, or other external development while ordinary work may continue.

Area Issue
Cross-cutting CIV-001 — Civil-Service Merit, Classification, and Anti-Politicization
Cross-cutting CIV-009 — Repurposed technical units as cross-agency operational control mechanisms
Cross-cutting CIV-010 — Congressional Authorization for Secondary Use of Government-Held Personal Data
Cross-cutting DOJ-002 — White House Direction or Interference in Particular Federal Criminal Matters
Cross-cutting DOJ-003 — Politically Selective Enforcement, Charging, and Favoritism
Cross-cutting DOM-001 — Domestic Deployment Authorities and Safeguards
Cross-cutting DOM-005 — State Investigative Access to Federal Critical-Incident Evidence
Cross-cutting ELEC-001 — Federal Executive Interference with State and Local Election Administration
Cross-cutting ELEC-004 — Abuse of Election Litigation and Civil Process
Cross-cutting ELEC-013 — Federal Candidate Access, Ballot Access, and Debate Gatekeeping
Cross-cutting EMERG-003 — Emergency Economic Powers as a Substitute for Legislation
Cross-cutting EMOL-001 — Presidential Financial Conflicts, Emoluments, and Self-Dealing
Cross-cutting FACT-001 — Scientific, Statistical, and Technical Integrity
Cross-cutting FED-002 — Selective or Retaliatory Federal Administration Against States
Cross-cutting FED-003 — Federal Funding, Waiver, and Approval Coercion of States
Cross-cutting FED-004 — Federal Displacement of State Functions
Cross-cutting FUND-001 — Fiscal Implementation of Ultra Vires Executive Directives
Cross-cutting HER-001 — Federal Civic Property Preservation and Public Review
Cross-cutting JUD-001 — Executive Dependence of Judicial Enforcement
Cross-cutting OVS-001 — Inspector General Independence, Access, Reporting, and Follow-Through
Cross-cutting PRESS-001 — Equal Press Access and Rapid Review
Cross-cutting REC-001 — Presidential and Executive Records Integrity, Custody, and Enforcement
Cross-cutting REG-001 — Agency Independence and Functional Nullification
Cross-cutting REG-002 — Executive Influence over Federal Regulatory Enforcement
Cross-cutting REG-003 — Control of Administrative Adjudication
Cross-cutting RET-001 — Executive Retaliation Through Federal Benefits and Regulatory Power
Cross-cutting RIGHTS-001 — Civil-Rights Administration, Identity Records, and Federal Definition Control
Cross-cutting RIGHTS-002 — Temporary Protected Status, Asylum Access, and Humanitarian Reviewability
Cross-cutting WAR-001 — Comprehensive War Powers and Use-of-Force Authorization Reform
Cross-cutting WAR-009 — Executive Lethal Targeting and Accountability

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