President-elect Donald J. Trump has moved to install loyalists in jobs that Congress did not intend for new presidents to replace at the start of their terms, eroding a traditional constraint on executive power even before he takes office.
While Mr. Trump has the legal power to do so, he is violating a norm of self-restraint that past presidents, including himself, adhered to.
Particularly striking is Mr. Trump's plan to oust and replace the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, and the I.R.S. commissioner, Danny Werfel, in light of his repeated vow to use the levers of government to pursue his adversaries.
Because of the potential for abuses and past instances of them, Congress structured the positions to emphasize that they are not supposed to operate as just another member of a president's political team.
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