Outrage Overload

A Connors Institute podcast

Outrage 93 – The Structural Battle for the DOJ – Alex Lovit

Aired Jul 29, 2026

In February 2025, we explored the mechanics of an expanding executive branch in our episode, The Imperial Presidency. We analyzed a presidency stretching its boundaries, dismantling administrative agencies, and overriding traditional corruption safeguards.

In this follow-up conversation, we turn our attention to the primary institutional battleground of 2026: The Department of Justice (DOJ).

The long-standing post-Watergate norm that the DOJ should operate independently from presidential control has been explicitly rejected by the current administration. Asserting total constitutional authority over all executive branch agencies under Article II, the administration argues that an independent DOJ is a myth.

To break down the structural reality behind the headlines—including the dismissal of federal indictments against political allies, the targeting of opponents, and mass civil service purges—we sit down with historian Alex Lovit, host of The Context. Together, we place the crisis of 2026 into historical perspective, tracing the design flaws and vulnerabilities of the DOJ from its founding in 1870 to the present day.

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Missed Part I? Listen to our foundational episode,The Imperial Presidency, to understand how the broader dismantling of civil service protections laid the groundwork for today’s battle over the DOJ.

Alex Lovit is a senior program officer and historian at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. He hosts and produces the foundation’s podcast, The Context, interviewing activists, writers, historians, and community leaders on democracy’s history and future. He holds a history PhD from the University of Michigan, specializing in 19th-century political history.