Kavanaugh: Presidents can ignore laws
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:24 pm
Judge Kavanaugh has expressed the opinion that a President can ignore a law (even one that he signed) if he believes it to be unconstitutional. According to Judge Kavanaugh, the President is entitled to do that until a final court order tell him that he's wrong.
So on the one hand, Kavanaugh thinks that a President can ignore the law until a court tells him he can't. On the other hand, the courts are more and more frequently concluding that disputes about laws (particularly involving separation of powers) are "political questions" that the courts cannot address. Put the two together, and you have Kavanaugh signing off on an imperial Presidency far beyond what we've ever seen before.
The correct rule is that the President must follow the law until and unless he gets a court to agree with him that the law is unconstitutional (or invalid for some other reason). Anything else drives a stake through the heart of Congress's role.
By the way, some of this stuff comes from Kavanaugh's time as Bush's staff secretary. That's the stuff Democrats have been demanding and Republicans don't want to wait for. Apparently they think it would be unfair to judge Kavanaugh on his entire record or to take enough time to be sure that his entire record is available for public scrutiny. Needless to say, any claim by Republicans that any delay in processing Judge Kavanaugh's nomination would be unfair (and I've already seen that claim made) should be met with a two-word answer: "Merrick Garland." --Bob
So on the one hand, Kavanaugh thinks that a President can ignore the law until a court tells him he can't. On the other hand, the courts are more and more frequently concluding that disputes about laws (particularly involving separation of powers) are "political questions" that the courts cannot address. Put the two together, and you have Kavanaugh signing off on an imperial Presidency far beyond what we've ever seen before.
The correct rule is that the President must follow the law until and unless he gets a court to agree with him that the law is unconstitutional (or invalid for some other reason). Anything else drives a stake through the heart of Congress's role.
By the way, some of this stuff comes from Kavanaugh's time as Bush's staff secretary. That's the stuff Democrats have been demanding and Republicans don't want to wait for. Apparently they think it would be unfair to judge Kavanaugh on his entire record or to take enough time to be sure that his entire record is available for public scrutiny. Needless to say, any claim by Republicans that any delay in processing Judge Kavanaugh's nomination would be unfair (and I've already seen that claim made) should be met with a two-word answer: "Merrick Garland." --Bob