The Supreme Court has helped presidential power expand. Trump may test its limits.

For the better part of a century, presidents have sought to quickly flex their new powers upon entering office. President Donald Trump has, critics say, taken this practice to an extreme over the past month.

Saying that he is fulfilling a campaign promise to cut waste and root out fraud in Washington, President Trump and his administration have frozen vast sums of dollars of congressionally appropriated funds. He has, without an official reason, fired at least four Senate-confirmed agency officials as well as 17 independent agency inspectors general. His subordinates have gutted two federal agencies.

Are these actions legal? Dozens of lawsuits are probing the questions. Legal scholars disagree on how the cases could turn out. But they tend to agree that if the actions the Trump administration is taking are extreme, they are also, in another sense, predictable.