Mark Joseph Stern is a senior writer covering courts and the law for Slate and co-host of the Amicus podcast. He regularly appears on MSNBC. Based in Washington, D.C., he has covered the U.S. Supreme Court since 2013. He holds a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

In recent years, the Supreme Court has awarded the president an ever-growing amount of power, elevating the executive branch to the apex of the government. This alarming expansion of presidential authority comes at the expense of Congress and the courts, disrupting the Constitution’s carefully calibrated separation of powers. Restoring American democracy will require reining in the imperial presidency—first, by rejecting the Supreme Court's theory of a "unitary executive," then by restoring constitutional checks that prevent the president from becoming a king.