Leftists And The ‘Imperial Presidency’
By Ted Noel
Leftist legal analysts have no problems with any of Obama or Biden’s executive orders. These have spent money, instituted rules, and generally advanced the growth of government. The analysts aren’t wrong that EOs can be lawful. But the purpose of EOs is to deal with executive branch organization and function. They aren’t supposed to be used for creating laws like DACA or permanent Emergency Declarations. Yet this is exactly what Obama (276) and Biden (126 to date) have done. In spades.
By raw number, Donald Trump (220) is in the same league, but his were largely devoted to foreign policy, reducing regulations, and border security. Obama and Biden devoted large swaths of their penmanship to Social (in!)Justice, “Equity,” “Gender Identity,” the Green New Deal, and other woke projects. All of these were designed to increase government control over society in favor of anointed groups. Any of these where plaintiffs have been able to establish standing have been overturned. But many remain and hope of legal review is slim. The system is stacked against it.
So why are Lefty legal analysts apoplectic over the possibility that Trump may win his appeal of Jack Smith’s prosecution at the Supreme Court? Is Trump a threat to be an imperial president? I think the record is exactly the opposite. Democrat Presidents have vigorously pressed the boundaries of Presidential power, while Trump actively dismantled much of that. And that is the crux of the matter.
At present, Trump seems likely to run roughshod over Biden in the general election. Once inaugurated, his first actions will be to undo much of what the Left has accomplished. Panic would be too mild a description for that prospect.
So, every lie and mischaracterization is brought to bear. Somehow, a court that upholds the law is legitimizing an imperial presidency. The Supreme Court must now declare that acts that were lawful as President become unlawful once his address changes.
This is exactly what Judge Tanya Chutkan said. She ruled that the Constitution does not grant a president “absolute immunity from criminal process for actions performed within the ‘outer perimeter’ of his official responsibility while he served as president of the United States….”
Let’s translate that. Trump did things to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” (Art II, Sect 3). Those extend all the way to the “outer perimeter” of his official responsibility. They are necessarily lawful. But! Once he leaves office, that stuff he did in the Oval Office can now be re-interpreted as violating one law or another. His immunity disappears! We can send him to jail!
Of course, the Left never looks one step ahead of themselves. The same rule could be applied to their guys, with similarly disastrous results. No President would ever have any immunity once he stepped outside the White House. Fortunately, the law doesn’t work that way.