The Obama-Trump Executive Overreach Partnership
Any fears for a Trump presidency’s overreach must acknowledge the role of the Obama administration in making that overreach a reality.
The 2016 election saw more controversy this week as a spat broke out between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
From Jezebel’s Rachel Cote:
“I can’t imagine what this place would be — I can’t imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president,” Ginsburg told the New York Times.
This could raise issues down the line, Cote pointed out:
The prevailing concern is that Ginsberg could not be viewed as impartial as someone in the position to strike down presidential policies.
The Intercept published a review of the American Civil Liberty Union’s report on the Trump presidency this morning:
In a 27 page memo released Thursday, the ACLU accuses Trump of “police-state tactics” and says his proposals on counterterrorism, border security, and women’s rights would routinely violate the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth Amendments….
The ACLU regularly issues non-partisan reports on politician’s civil liberties records, but it is unusual for the organization to pledge its resources ahead of time to fighting a specific candidate’s policies.
The fear is that a Trump presidency would be filled with areas for the court to challenge, especially if the bloviating billionaire does even half of what he plans to (Muslim ban, immigration wall, etc). In that case, the liberal thinking goes, the Supreme Court would have to act as a buffer against Trump. So SCOTUS would necessarily have to be seen as an impartial actor with all requisite authority.
What this argument conveniently overlooks is the fact that Trump would be emboldened precisely because of the presidency of Barack Obama.
Obama has used his executive power in various ways over the course of his presidency. The rationale for this has usually been the intransigence of Congress- the refusal of the Republican dominated legislatures to allow the country’s first black president to get anything done.
And this is true, the GOP has blocked Obama at every turn. But that doesn’t mean that the president’s overuse of executive power is justified or healthy for a free society.
Once the genie’s out of the bottle, it’s hard to put it back in. Obama’s use of executive orders on immigration, his prosecutions of whistle-blowers, and his at-all-cost protection of state secrets will have ramifications long after he is out of office.
If or when Trump enters the White House, the machinery for a powerful and overreaching executive will be there waiting. What he does with it will ultimately be the responsibility of the Obama administration.