A constitutional crisis threatens our democracy
Will Trump emerge as a strongman who controls everything?
By Mike Sorrell
President Donald Trump’s popularity rises as he creates a constitutional crisis that threatens democracy.
Are people not paying attention? Do they care?
Trump, now into his third week in office, ignores Congress and appears on the verge of defying the courts.
We all learn early on in school that American democracy has three co-equal branches of government – the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. Trump, propelled by far-right ideologues, has seized power over the legislative branch – Congress – and we will see over the next few days whether he defies federal court orders to stop the illegal rampage in which he shuts down federal agencies, fires federal employees by the hundreds, and refuses to use money duly allocated by Congress.
Trump is seizing control with the help of hand-picked, inexperienced enablers like Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon, Kristi Noem as director of Homeland Security, and Vice President J.D. Vance, who in a social media post on Sunday said, “Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power.”
Legitimate? Many constitutional scholars disagree.
Law professor Kate Shaw of the University of Pennsylvania said in a New York Times story this morning (Tuesday), “The administration’s early moves [appear] designed to demonstrate a maximum contempt of core constitutional values – the separation of powers, the freedom of speech, equal justice under the law.”
“A number of the new administration’s executive orders and other executive actions are in clear violation of laws enacted by Congress.”
The crisis will deepen if Trump disobeys the courts, Shaw said.
Shaw’s comments are in a story by reporter Adam Liptak headlined, “Trump’s Actions Have Created a Constitutional Crisis, Scholars Say.”
Liptak’s story gives a clear and troublesome outline of what’s happening. I recommend reading it and passing it along to people who believe Trump is doing a good job.
“There is no universally accepted definition of a constitutional crisis,” Liptak writes, “but legal scholars agree about some of its characteristics. It is generally the product of presidential defiance of law and judicial rulings … and once it starts it can get much worse.”
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California at Berkeley, said, ““We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis right now. There have been so many unconstitutional and illegal actions in the first 18 days of the Trump presidency. We never have seen anything like this.”
Examples of Trump’s lawless conduct, Chemerinsky said last Friday, include freezing federal spending, shutting down agencies, revoking birthright citizenship, deporting people based on their political views and firing federal employees who are subject to civil service protections.
“Systematic unconstitutional and illegal acts create a constitutional crisis,” Chemerinsky said.
Washington Post reporter Aaron Blake, in an analysis piece yesterday, wrote, “As of Monday morning, at least 10 judges have issued rulings halting what the administration is doing and seeking to do. That’s 10 rulings in 21 days since Trump was inaugurated — a staggering clip that reflects just how much Trump is disregarding federal statutes and legal precedent.
“And as that clash builds, it’s becoming increasingly valid to consider the seemingly unthinkable: Trump and his administration simply defying those court orders and launching the country into a full-blown constitutional crisis.”
As I noted above, about 53 percent of Americans think Trump is doing a good job. His popularity has never been higher.
Among the other 47 percent there is a fear that democracy will give way to authoritarian rule by a strongman who simply ignores the judicial branch of government and makes the Republican majority in Congress too scared to do anything that will upset him.