{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpower-plays.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fthe-memo-that-ate-democracy-KuQy83_f","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"The Memo That Ate Democracy","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/96a10b54-3566-4ae1-87fd-fd8bff7bd182/a3d50482-aa2a-4d10-8989-1af31bca076c/power-20plays.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"<iframe src=\"https://player.simplecast.com/68a8ffaa-d7cd-4ca5-b7ad-903fc5f4c5ba\" height=\"200\" width=\"100%\" title=\"The Memo That Ate Democracy\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>","height":200,"description":"In 1995, a mid-level Justice Department lawyer named John Yoo wrote what seemed like routine legal advice about presidential war powers. Two decades later, that 42-page memo had been stretched into a constitutional theory that presidents could ignore Congress, surveil Americans without warrants, and detain citizens indefinitely. How a forgotten Office of Legal Counsel opinion became the blueprint for the imperial presidency—and why every administration since has quietly kept it in their back pocket."}