Are we heading toward a constitutional crisis? | Global News Avenue

More than half a century ago, during Watergate, President Richard Nixon was in a stalemate with the Justice Department and the Court. On October 20, 1973, the President asked Attorney General Elliot Richardson Fire to special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson refuses and resigns. His agent William Ruckelshaus also refused and resigned.

Tensions make a certain phrase for the American dialogue: “Constitutional Crisis.”

Now, the word is back.

Many Democrats have alerted President Trump to the use of executive power. Rep. Sean Carsten (D-ill.) said: ” Musk and his fool Has been taken illegally. ”

Some people are worried about Trump, Broken norms Who else Relentlessly working to overturn the 2020 electioncannot be expected to comply with the court.

Most Republicans are talking about “crisis.” “I’ve been asked a lot of times, ‘Are you uncomfortable with this?’ No, I’m not.”

In fact, when Trump overhauled, many people were cheering Ministry of Justice and FBI;Working with Elon Musk Thousands of federal employees fired; and logo A bunch of executive orders. Understanding this moment is tricky, but finding history can be a great place to start.

ask What is a constitutional crisis?Jeffrey Rosen, who runs non-partisans National Constitution Center Reply in Philadelphia: “The constitutional crisis is if the president refuses to give an authoritative opinion on the Supreme Court. This is never happening in American history. Andrew Jackson threatens to ignore the court, but there is no president. And there is no president. And there is no president. . So far, President Trump has not violated the court.

“The Supreme Court has never been rejected?” I asked.

“You don’t have an authoritative order and the president refuses to enforce it,” Rosen said.

Trump’s lawyers are busy nowadays Attractive lower level decisions Trying to stop him. These cases may arrive at the Supreme Court soon.

Gillian Metzger, a constitution professor at Columbia University in New York, works for the Biden administration’s Department of Justice and serves as Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who believes Trump is Deliberately test the scope of execution rights.

I asked, “Where is the guardrail around President Trump and his use of power?”

Metzger replied: “There are some guardrails; there are courts.” “The courts are taking place so far. It’s early. I mean, we’ve taken a lot of legal action.”

“It’s hard to track everything.”

“It’s hard to track everything!” Metzger said. “But we intervened a lot early in the courts. The courts ended up doing a lot of things. If you do have a government that intends to break the law, it’s not only taking the courts, but also taking action on Congress, which will bring to the United States, This will make people stand up and make it clear that they will not establish for it, because our constitutional orders are reserved.”

For the time being, there is little (if any) competition for Trump by the Republican-controlled Congress. Democrats express anger;Most Republicans range from silent to excitement.

Trump also upsets his critics by relying on the idea of ​​having great power and even posting a fake magazine cover, whose critics wear a crown with a caption, “Long live the king.” On social media, he quoted a film about French emperor Napoleon: “It is not illegal to save a country.”

I asked Metzger, “What did this say to you when the president put it there?”

“To be honest, I really don’t know how to do something from social media where Trump, Musk or someone else,” she replied. “It seems to be for some kind of shock value.”

Don McGahn, Don McGahn, Trump’s first White House lawyer, said he saw a president making headlines, not a crisis.

I asked, “Do you believe he is testing the boundaries of execution?”

“I think you can make this argument,” McGarn said. “He certainly did it in a very open, very transparent way. It doesn’t seem like a secret memo from Lotta telling people what to do,” he said. It seems he’s certainly opening up in some way, and I think he’s certainly pushing the envelope, and I think he’s using a more solid legal authority I think he has than I think Lotta people are aware of.”

“What information do you have about the Americans who are whipping at what happened?”

“Calm down; that’s my message. Calm down,” McGarn said. “It’s a process, it’s a lot of paper, it’s a lot of execution orders, it’s a lot of hype. There’s a process. People will go to court. The court will settle. Congress can help with the problem. We’ll see what’s going on.

The crossroads of presidential power have been around for many years Conservatives have long demanded authorization executives.

“You do have a court now, and there are heavy Trump stamps on them,” McGarn said. Last year, the president was ruled to have broad immunity.

I asked, “What is the significance of the president’s immunity ruling when it comes to President Trump today?”

McGarn said: “Well, I think it reflects that it is actually the law. Now, there are some scholars and law professors and things that don’t agree, but I think the president is indeed the president. When he makes a decision internally, his That’s what the constitution or legal authority is.”

But what if the court tells Trump to stick with it? What about he not? “If the president starts ignoring the court orders, it will fall into something ‘weird situation,” McGarn said. “Not doing that; he said he wouldn’t do that.”

“Do you believe him?” I asked.

“I do.”

The White House said in a statement that Trump is following the constitution “to T.”

“For anyone who has ever read our great constitution, the court has had ongoing success in favor of the Trump administration, which clearly lists the role of the executive branch, with President Trump and his entire administration focusing on the White House Spokesman Harrison Fields told “CBS Sunday Morning”. “The Resistance can try, but they will continue to fail to pursue rewriting the Constitution and deny the people’s presidential legal authority to manage the executive branch.”

Finally, for Jeffrey Rosen, history and the Constitution remain a guide to our turbulent times, especially when the president is on the verge of making his own history.

“President Trump is advocating a powerful form of presidential power, as powerful as any president in history,” Rosen said. “This is called the theory of unified execution, the basic idea is that Congress cannot limit the president’s power. Now, The Supreme Court has not weighed degree This unified execution theory. But if the court agrees with President Trump, he will actually be stronger than any president in history. ”

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A story produced by Jon Carras. Edited by: Ed Givnish.