Is President Trump creating a constitutional crisis? The Trump administration has deported 238 illegal aliens, who were members of the terrorist gang Tren de Aragua. District Judge James Boasberg has ordered the President to return them to the United States. The Dems are insisting that it will be a constitutional crisis if the President refuses to comply with the judge’s order. What complete hogwash. Their reasoning is completely backward.
Our system of governance has 3 coequal branches of government to provide accountability as a check against government malfeasance. Were the President to comply with an illegal judicial order, it would undermine or system of checks and balances, creating an actual constitutional crisis. When a rogue judge issues an illegal order, our President’s duty is to disobey the judge.
Members of our military are honor bound to obey orders from their leadership, but only when those orders are legal. Each soldier swears and oath to defend the Constitution – our pact of self-governance – which places them in service to the people. Hence, each soldier’s first duty is to the law as constitutionally enacted by the citizenry.
Therefore, a soldier’s obedience is conditional. Orders must comply with the will of the people, as codified in the Constitution and duly enacted laws, to be considered valid orders.
If ordered to violate a law or a Constitutional principle, soldiers don’t have a right to disobey. They have a duty to disobey. That’s a fine but important distinction.
The same duty applies to all sworn federal officials:
- Representatives,
- Senators,
- Judges,
- Federal attorneys,
- Law enforcement agents, and even
- Presidents.
We often think of the President as the supreme authority in America – not subservient, nor receiving orders from anyone else. But, that is simply not true in our system. Presidents receive orders all the time from the other branches of government. Congress passes laws, which the President is ordered to enforce. Courts issue decisions and injunctions, which the President is ordered to comply with.
So, what should a President do, if ordered to commit and illegal act – such as violate immigration law by transporting illegal aliens into the country? With his order to do just that, Judge Boasberg violated the Constitution by usurping Congress’s power to legislate, and the President’s power to enforce. In such a case, the President’s oath of office must take precedence, and he must disobey the order he believes to be illegal.
Disagreements between the executive and judicial branches will inevitably create conflicts. Fortunately, there is a constitutional remedy to resolve such conflicts: Congressional adjudication via impeachment. When the Article II and Article III branches of government disagree, the Article I branch must settle it.
If Congress determines that the President disobeyed a lawful court order, he must be removed from office. Conversely, if it’s found that the Judge issued an illegal order, he must be removed from the bench. Given the stakes, Presidents and judges should exercise great care in challenging each other – which is entirely appropriate given the national impact of such matters.
Unfortunately, that’s not how the system has been working, because members of Congress have become party members first and defenders of the Constitution second – if at all. Republicans will not remove a Republican, and Democrats will not remove a Democrat. In the 237 years that the Constitution has been in effect, no President has ever been removed from office, and only 15 judges have been removed from the bench.
Due to this failure of accountability
- Judges issue illegal orders with impunity – such as baring the executive branch from seeing Treasury Department records,
- Presidents defy court orders without consequence – such as the court decision prohibiting the forgiving of student loans, and
- Congress ignores its duty to hold the other branches accountable – allowing dereliction to the Constitution to propagate.
Given all of that, I’m having a hard time getting worked up about President Trump refusing to flood the country with violent terrorists. We certainly have a growing constitutional crisis, but it’s not from a President disobeying an illegal order.
Author Bio: John Green is a retired engineer and political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He spent his career designing complex defense systems, developing high performance organizations, and doing corporate strategic planning. He is a contributor to American Thinker, The American Spectator, and the American Free News Network. He can be reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
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