Institutional damage that persisted
All 16 modern US presidents ranked by their net score on this single sub-criterion. Good and harm are scored 0–10 independently; net is good minus harm. Click a name for the full scorecard.
Minimal institutional damage. Strong reform legacy. Lost 1980 reinforced perception of presidential fragility.
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- good·Tier 2·Academic·Unverified
Carter era largely strengthened institutions through reform legislation; minimal lasting damage.
Post-Carter institutional analysis
Post-Watergate institutional restoration. Pardon precedent debated. Church Committee reforms (FISA, IG framework) durable.
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- good·Tier 1·Historical record·Unverified
Ford-era cooperation with Church Committee enabled the legal-framework reforms (FISA 1978, IG Act 1978) that constrained intelligence-community abuses through subsequent decades.
senate.gov ↗
MLK wiretap precedent for FBI political surveillance. Bay of Pigs damaged CIA-presidential trust patterns. Modest institutional damage overall.
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- harm·Tier 1·Primary document·Unverified
Kennedy-era MLK wiretap authorization continued FBI political-surveillance pattern documented by Church Committee.
senate.gov ↗
Iran-Contra pardons normalized presidential immunity-protection of officials. Thomas SCOTUS lifetime appointment. PAYGO rules constrained subsequent policy.
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- harm·Tier 1·Academic·Unverified
Bush's Iran-Contra pardons established precedent for presidential pardoning of executive-branch officials facing prosecution for actions taken on president's behalf.
Iran-Contra pardon legacy analysis; subsequent presidential-pardon practice
Garland blockade established new SCOTUS confirmation norm (election-year blockade — subsequently abandoned for Barrett 2020). Drone executive precedent. Espionage Act prosecution precedent.
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- harm·Tier 1·Academic·Unverified
Garland blockade established asymmetric SCOTUS confirmation politics with continuing institutional damage; drone targeted-killing precedent inherited and continued by successors.
Garland-Barrett asymmetry analysis; drone targeted killing executive precedent
Iran-Contra norm erosion. Federalist Society judicial pipeline reshaped courts. EPA capture and revolving-door norms began. Decline of administrative-state capacity.
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- harm·Tier 1·Historical record·Unverified
Federalist Society pipeline established under Reagan administration produced the conservative legal infrastructure that shaped subsequent decades of judicial appointments through 2024.
fedsoc.org ↗
Loyalty program legitimized post-Cold-War surveillance state. Korean War set undeclared-executive-war precedent. Lavender Scare federal employment ban persisted through 1995 (Clinton EO 12968).
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- harm·Tier 1·Primary document·Unverified
Federal employment discrimination against LGBTQ employees originated in Truman-era loyalty program logic, was formalized by Eisenhower's EO 10450, and persisted until 1995.
Federal employment LGBTQ ban (EO 10450, Eisenhower 1953) directly continuing Truman-era logic; rescinded by EO 12968 (1995)
Federal LGBTQ employment ban (EO 10450) persisted 42 years. Termination policy harmed tribes for 22 years. CIA covert-operations infrastructure built for ongoing covert-action use.
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- harm·Tier 1·Primary document·Unverified
Federal anti-LGBTQ employment policy (EO 10450) operated continuously from 1953 to 1995; tribal termination policy operated from 1953 to 1975, terminating 109 tribes.
EO 10450 effective 1953-1995; Indian Self-Determination Act 1975 reversing termination
Court-packing failed but the 'switch in time' shifted constitutional jurisprudence. Imperial presidency expansion accelerated under FDR. Internment precedent (Korematsu) overturned only in 2018 (Trump v. Hawaii dicta).
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- harm·Tier 1·Academic·Unverified
FDR-era executive-power expansion (and the Korematsu precedent it produced) cast a 70+ year shadow on civil-liberties jurisprudence.
Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U.S. ___ (2018), overruling Korematsu in dicta; Schlesinger, 'The Imperial Presidency' (1973)
Vietnam credibility gap launched permanent decline in public trust. War Powers framework strained, eventually corrected by 1973 Act. Surveillance-era precedents.
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- harm·Tier 1·Statistic·Unverified
US public trust in government fell from ~75% (1964) to ~52% (1969) during LBJ term, beginning the long decline that has never fully recovered.
pewresearch.org ↗
Glass-Steagall repeal contributed to 2008 financial crisis. Impeachment of presidents normalized. Lewinsky-era trust decline. Crime Bill mass incarceration legacy.
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- harm·Tier 1·Primary document·Unverified
1999 Glass-Steagall repeal enabled commercial-investment banking integration that contributed to 2008 financial crisis; Crime Bill mass-incarceration framework persisted through 2010s reform era.
congress.gov ↗
Watergate damaged executive-branch credibility for generations. Decline in trust-in-government statistics traceable to Watergate. Rehnquist Court (1986-2005) shaped subsequent jurisprudence.
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- harm·Tier 1·Statistic·Unverified
US public trust in government fell from ~75% (1964) to ~36% (1974) directly through Watergate era and has never fully recovered; long-term institutional credibility damage.
pewresearch.org ↗
Surveillance state legalized. Torture program normalization. Guantanamo continued 16+ years post-Bush. Unitary executive theory continued. Major durable institutional damage.
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- harm·Tier 1·Primary document·Unverified
Senate Intelligence Committee 'Torture Report' (2014) documented systematic torture program; Guantanamo continues to detain individuals 23 years after 9/11; surveillance state legalized and continued.
senate.gov ↗
Norm erosion durable: January 6 precedent, two-impeachment precedent, refusal of peaceful transition precedent. Trump v. United States (2024) presidential immunity expansion. Democratic backsliding indicators in expert assessments.
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- harm·Tier 1·Academic·Unverified
V-Dem Institute and other democracy-quality indicators downgraded US democratic quality substantially during Trump T1 era; Trump v. United States (2024) expanded presidential immunity dramatically.
v-dem.net ↗
- Joe Biden2021 – 2025 · insufficient time elapsed
- Donald Trump (T2)2025 – — · insufficient time elapsed