John Stossel‘s latest column at Human Events explores the links between presidential power grabs and Supreme Court appointments.
Because presidents think Congress is failing when it doesn’t pass legislation they like, they nominate Supreme Court justices who may give them leeway. Franklin Roosevelt tried to increase the size of the Court to squeeze in more justices who supported his programs. George W. Bush nominated his own White House Counsel.
The media call President Obama’s current nominee, Merrick Garland, “a centrist.” But he is “centrist” only in that he sides with Democrats who want to ban guns and Republicans who want government left free to do most anything in Guantanamo Bay. Garland repeatedly supports increased government power — and fewer checks.
Shapiro went to Chicago Law School when Obama was a professor there. He says Obama understands the limits the Constitution places on presidents but ignores them. He ignores them so often that the Supreme Court has overruled Obama unanimously more often than any modern president.
When Congress rejected Obama’s immigration plan, he just imposed it via executive order. The Supreme Court overturned that, but the final vote blocking it was close, 4-4. But what will the next court do?
I hope Hillary Clinton doesn’t get to replace Justice Scalia because she sounds a lot like President Obama. On her website, she says things like, “If Congress won’t act, I will ask the Treasury Department … to use its regulatory authority!”
Donald Trump is no better. He says he’ll impose the death penalty on anyone who kills a cop.
“But the executive has no say over that,” points out Shapiro.
Presidents cannot pass laws. They execute laws passed by Congress. Congress is supposed to reject legislation it doesn’t like. That’s its job. Most legislation is bad.
