Posted on 03/30/2017 12:38:47 PM PDT by PROCON
The fact that a bottom-rung judge can wrest constitutional power away from the president of the United States is beyond disturbing.
A third-tier judge, without any constitutional or legal warrant, has taken total control of America’s immigration policy from President Trump. And the president is letting him do it.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson of Hawaii yesterday extended the ban he imposed on President Trump’s travel ban indefinitely. And he imposed it universally, even outside his own jurisdiction, which I doubt he has any authority whatsoever to do. Vowing that the ban would remain in place even if the president appeals to a higher court, Watson said flatly, "Enforcement of these provisions in all places, including the United States, at all United States borders and ports of entry, and in the issuance of visas is prohibited, pending further orders from this court.”
In other words, I’m in charge here, Mr. President, and you’re not.
This is an appalling, alarming, and Constitution-destroying act of judicial hubris and overreach. Simply begin with the fact that neither the Constitution nor the law gives any authority to the judiciary to set immigration policy in any manner at all. The Constitution vests it all in Congress, and Congress under that authority can pass laws which the president as the head of the executive branch then implements.
The law gives the president unquestioned, unilateral, and unreserved authority to block entry into the United States to any persons or group of persons he “deems detrimental to the interests” of the country. And he can simply do it “by proclamation” and entirely on his own authority.
The mere fact that a bottom-rung judge would have the presumption to wrest that power from the president and arrogate it to himself is beyond disturbing. The only thing more disturbing is that we are letting him get away with it. It’s absurd that the only figure who is allowed to dictate immigration policy “by proclamation” is the one figure who has no authority whatsoever to do it.
It must not be forgotten that this toxic activism will not be confined to this renegade judge. Other minor-league judges will take note that one of their colleagues has taken control, all by himself, of a major area of American policy, is dictating policy to the president, and everybody is letting him get away with it. Some judges will certainly tell themselves that if Judge Watson can do it, what’s stopping me from doing the same thing in another area of public policy? The result will be total chaos, with an entire nation in the grip of ego-driven junior league judges routinely exceeding their authority and wresting complete control of American policy from our elected officials.
I, for one, do not welcome our new judicial overlords. And neither should President Trump. If the president were to ignore Judge Watson’s tyrannical edict, on the grounds that the judge has no more legal authority than a traffic court judge to issue it, what could Judge Watson do about it? If the president were simply to go straight on ahead and begin implementing his perfectly constitutional policy, what could Judge Watson do to stop him? Precisely nothing.
Upon taking office, President Trump quite pointedly hung a portrait of Andrew Jackson in the White House. Jackson is perhaps most noted for telling the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to take a hike when he issued an unconstitutional order. Jackson is reported to have said, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!”
This is the only way judicial tyranny is going to be broken in America. It will be broken by elected officials who fulfill their oaths of office to uphold and defend the Constitution by flatly refusing to knuckle under to black-robed oligarchs who tread where the Constitution forbids them to go. For elected officials to do this is not civil disobedience; it is constitutional obedience of the highest order.
Meanwhile, Judge Watson is making America less safe by the day as thousands of unvetted refugees, who would otherwise have been blocked, have been flooding into the United States. Who knows how many acts of terror will be committed by these Muslim migrants this judge has foolishly, recklessly, and wrongly allowed into our country?
President Trump’s highest calling is to protect the safety and security of the United States. He shouldn’t let a low-level judge stop him.
I thought I could stop asking this for at least the next four years, but...is it time to start shootin’ ‘em yet?
He is waiting for that 5th USSC Justice!
Federal courts enjoined many things that Obama tried to do (including his DACA attempt to amnesty illegals by executive order). Setting a precedent for ignoring court orders is probably not a good idea.
If the Democrats controlled the House and the Senate and also the Presidency, do you think they would have a problem with nominations? The problem is that Ryan and McConnel are really Democrats.
I don’t think Trump has enough of the right kinds of attorneys working for him now. They have been unable to over turn most of these judicial roadblocks to improved border control.
I don’t think Mr. Sessions expected the prolonged challenges from both progressives and RINOs, challenges and invented lies coming forth, boldly, with no shame, humlity or great negative consequence. Perhaps he thought after the election were won by Trump, surely by then, all those pesky troublemakers would eventually hush up and fall in line with their president.
He’s still not making many ripples in the water.
John Bohener might say Sessions must still be ‘takin a nap!’
This may be the key right here.
Waiting for Gorsuch.
If so, I just need to be more patient.
I just hate seeing the dems get away with so much uninterrupted, unchallenged by the GOP.
realx
this is going to the supreme court as soon as trump gets his man in ...
result 5-4 in favor of trump...
He needs Gorsuch on SCOTUS first because he will probably need SCOTUS to reign in the Ninth Circus.
I can only conclude he is putting all the chips on the SC fixing this. In so doing he will be playing whack a mole with his entire agenda. I’d say we are days away from some judges saying no to the holding the funds to sanctuary cites then the climate EO then the wall then... he has ceded executive power to the Judiciary. And what if he loses at the SC or the Rats block Gorsuch? It really is catastrophic what is happening here. Is Trump a paper tiger?
Bump to ending the tyranny of the black robes.
Which means that the Judicial branch has more power than the other two branches, combined.
Not yet.
Last I heard, Gorsuch’s confirmation is expected early next week.
Really, Trump should just ignore the order and order his executive branch officials (who answer only to him) to enforce his policy.
What is the judge going to do? Send his private army to DC to enforce his decision?
It's a "huge mess" that needs cleaning up, and when the clean-up starts, it will become "unpleasant" for a while.
There actually is a legitimate question about how much federal funding can be withheld from sanctuary cities. The original Obamacare statute would have withheld all Medicaid funding from states that didn't expand Medicaid in accordance with Obamacare; the Supreme Court, in the same decision that upheld the constitutionality of the individual mandate, struck down that portion of the statute on the grounds that it was too "coercive" of state governments.
Lets see if he starts his counter-offensive after that!
There has to be a stone in it though.
“Federal courts enjoined many things that Obama tried to do (including his DACA attempt to amnesty illegals by executive order). Setting a precedent for ignoring court orders is probably not a good idea.”
Yet Obama DID ignore the ruling. Do you not remember the Obama administrations “mistake” by continuing issue over 100,000 DACA permits? The Judge ruled the DOJ had been “intentionally deceptive” to the court and ordered dozens of DOJ lawyers to take ethics classes.
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