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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Trump isn't just defying Congress. He's rejecting the whole idea of oversight."
The stakes in the current showdown are higher than a few subpoenas.
By Steve Vladeck
Steve Vladeck is a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, co-editor in chief of Just Security, co-host of the National Security Law Podcast and a CNN legal analyst.
The administrations emerging position appears to be that Congress does not really have the power to investigate the president, at least not when one chamber is controlled by his political adversaries, even if whatever information it seeks might eventually be used in an impeachment proceeding. Thats a deeply disturbing argument, and one that, if successful, would tilt the separation of powers, perhaps irrevocably, toward the executive branch.
Several fights between the administration and the House seemed to boil over this past week. The Justice Department has said the official who oversees its civil rights division wont give a deposition to a House committee investigating the administrations plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The White House blocked another official, who handles security clearances, from testifying before a different panel looking into that work. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has missed deadlines to provide Trumps tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, which has requested them as permitted by statute; Mnuchin says hell decide next month whether to comply. Trump also sued the chairman of the House Oversight Committee (as well as his own accounting firm) to try to quash a subpoena the panel issued for financial information related to Trumps businesses.
There is no question that the power of inquiry has limits. As the Supreme Court explained in 1957, No inquiry is an end in itself; it must be related to, and in furtherance of, a legitimate task of the Congress. Investigations conducted solely for the personal aggrandizement of the investigators or to punish those investigated are indefensible. Supporters of the president might point to this language as proof that any subpoena issued by the current House is invalid, because its clearly part of a witch hunt against Trump.
This argument doesnt remotely follow. No one disputes that one of the most important tasks that the Constitution commits to Congress is the power to impeach and remove federal officers for Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-isnt-just-defying-congress-hes-rejecting-the-whole-idea-of-oversight/2019/04/26/acf0a00a-67c9-11e9-a1b6-b29b90efa879_story.html?utm_term=.8eaee25cd542
By Steve Vladeck
Steve Vladeck is a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, co-editor in chief of Just Security, co-host of the National Security Law Podcast and a CNN legal analyst.
The administrations emerging position appears to be that Congress does not really have the power to investigate the president, at least not when one chamber is controlled by his political adversaries, even if whatever information it seeks might eventually be used in an impeachment proceeding. Thats a deeply disturbing argument, and one that, if successful, would tilt the separation of powers, perhaps irrevocably, toward the executive branch.
Several fights between the administration and the House seemed to boil over this past week. The Justice Department has said the official who oversees its civil rights division wont give a deposition to a House committee investigating the administrations plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The White House blocked another official, who handles security clearances, from testifying before a different panel looking into that work. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has missed deadlines to provide Trumps tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, which has requested them as permitted by statute; Mnuchin says hell decide next month whether to comply. Trump also sued the chairman of the House Oversight Committee (as well as his own accounting firm) to try to quash a subpoena the panel issued for financial information related to Trumps businesses.
There is no question that the power of inquiry has limits. As the Supreme Court explained in 1957, No inquiry is an end in itself; it must be related to, and in furtherance of, a legitimate task of the Congress. Investigations conducted solely for the personal aggrandizement of the investigators or to punish those investigated are indefensible. Supporters of the president might point to this language as proof that any subpoena issued by the current House is invalid, because its clearly part of a witch hunt against Trump.
This argument doesnt remotely follow. No one disputes that one of the most important tasks that the Constitution commits to Congress is the power to impeach and remove federal officers for Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-isnt-just-defying-congress-hes-rejecting-the-whole-idea-of-oversight/2019/04/26/acf0a00a-67c9-11e9-a1b6-b29b90efa879_story.html?utm_term=.8eaee25cd542
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"Trump isn't just defying Congress. He's rejecting the whole idea of oversight." (Original Post)
real Cannabis calm
Apr 2019
OP
He apparently plans to rule the USA, like Banana-Republic rulers he condemns.
real Cannabis calm
Apr 2019
#4
ProudMNDemocrat
(16,789 posts)1. According to Trump, Fuck the rule of law and the Constitution.....
He will lose this arguement BIGLY.
Even the Courts have to uphold the US Constitution because the that is their jobs.
onecaliberal
(32,894 posts)2. He is rejecting a constitutional democracy.
real Cannabis calm
(1,124 posts)4. He apparently plans to rule the USA, like Banana-Republic rulers he condemns.
Of course, that excludes South American drug-lords he made deals with, when he cut pay for the US Coast Guard.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,870 posts)3. He just doesn't want any rules or regulations.
It's the way he has always done things. He had enough money to make it work in the business world.
Seems to be working pretty well for him now.
Rambling Man
(249 posts)6. A strongly worded statement
should put him in check.
Maru Kitteh
(28,342 posts)5. rec x a brazillion
Autumn
(45,120 posts)7. Trump isn't acting in a vacuum. The Republicans are aiding and encouraging him.
This needs to be put on their heads as often as it's put on his.