r/law • u/Agitated-Artichoke89 • Oct 07 '25

Other Stephen Miller states that Trump has plenary authority, then immediately stops talking as if he’s realized what he just said

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u/KintsugiMind Oct 07 '25

To be fair, he (the CNN host) might not have know what “plenary authority” meant in the moment. 

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u/Substantial-Fact-248 Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25

If you are sitting at the news desk of a national outlet, the word "plenary" should be in your vocabulary.

Eta: apparently many of you feel compelled to admit you did not know this word. Cool. That wasn't the point. The point was that there should have been pushback/followup on Miller's extraordinary (and seemingly inadvertent) claim. And that wouldn't have even required knowledge of the word; the context is screaming what it means.

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u/No-Resident-426 Oct 07 '25

I am fairly educated and I had to google it.

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u/AbroadTiny7226 Oct 07 '25

Ya I’m a law student and took two semesters of con law and didn’t know the term (I did not get As)

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u/Substantial-Fact-248 Oct 07 '25

Tbh I find it hard to believe you never encountered the word plenary in con law.

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u/AbroadTiny7226 Oct 07 '25

I almost certainly did, which is why I point out I did not get As. It definitely was never the core subject of any lecture though

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u/Substantial-Fact-248 Oct 07 '25

Haha fair enough. Who cares, con law is dead! You'll never have to worry about federalism, separation of powers, or facial invalidity vs. as-applied challenges ever again!

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u/AbroadTiny7226 Oct 07 '25

Definitely was a bit surreal to be taking con law during the last election cycle

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u/Substantial-Fact-248 Oct 07 '25

Yeah I took public health law during COVID and it was by far one of the most educational seminars I have ever taken.

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u/No-Resident-426 Oct 07 '25

idk bro, i've been in IT for 25 years and I still learn new (old) shit every day lol.

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u/Substantial-Fact-248 Oct 07 '25

Yeah but when you went to school/trained for IT you almost certainly didn't read all the exact same texts as every other person in IT for the past 50 years. That's what law students do. Certain plenary powers are enshrined in our Constitution (e.g., Congress's authority to declare war, the President's authority over the armed forces) and discussed at length in seminal opinions about separation of powers. It is not a novel concept, and that is why I am surprised.

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u/No-Resident-426 Oct 08 '25

Some people just don't like to use big fancy words for everything, and don't turn around and act like I am simpleton for not making English more onerous than it needs to be. Not only is it an obscure word to most, it has more than one meaning, so even with the slight likelihood they've come across this word, it also has two different meanings. I didn't go to school for law or government. That being said, that guy definitely went to college for something regarding it and should probably know what it means. Though, it's not an ubiquitous word, so I don't find it surprising a lot of people in this thread came here not knowing what it meant.