By
“Winning is easy. Governing is harder.” – Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Candidate Donald Trump
ran on a bold “us v. them” agenda: deport undocumented immigrants, racially
profile Muslims, build a giant wall with Mexico, and much more. President Trump
is about to hit a wall of his own, as he discovers one of the hallmarks of the
American system of government: checks and balances.
As we all learned in
eighth grade social studies, the president runs the entire executive branch:
the military, the Justice Department, the FBI, CIA, NSA and many other
agencies. He can hire and fire FBI Directors, for example. (Does he like
Director Comey for the last minute boost, or not? We shall see.)
But he will not be king.
He is about to discover the striking difference between running a company,
where he can simply issue edicts that must be followed, and running America,
where all of his actions must comply with the Constitution.
Rhetoric and reality
For example, President
Trump could not order the FBI to single out American Muslims for extra
surveillance. That would surely violate not only the Fourteenth Amendment’s
requirement that all Americans be guaranteed equal protection of the laws, but
also the First Amendment’s right to freedom of religion. A New York court
issued a stinging rebuke to New York City’s stop and frisk practice a few years
ago, for example (which Trump is apparently still in denial about), finding that its racially biased outcome rendered
it unconstitutional.
A second and co-equal
branch of government, Congress, will also be a check on Mr. Trump’s excesses.
The US Congress, of course, passes laws and funds programs. And while it’s true
this Congress will be majority Republican (at least until the mid-terms in
2018), this is far from a unified Republican party. Many Republicans have
clashed with Trump during the campaign, especially on the issue of immigration
reform. It’s unclear the extent to which President Trump will be able to work
with Congress.
Furthermore, Republicans
are often fiscally conservative. The president cannot simply order the
construction of a wall that would likely cost tens of billions of dollars (and
of course, he has no way to make Mexico pay for it, no matter how often he says
it) without pushback. Plus, Democrats in Congress can still (and almost
certainly will) filibuster, slowing down or stopping controversial proposals.
And while there’s talk of the all-Republican Congress changing procedural rules
to try and reduce the effectiveness of filibustering, this would be a
short-sighted move on the GOP’s part—there will come a day when the Congress
(and the presidency) is back in Democratic hands.
But our independent
judiciary, the third co-equal branch, will be the strongest check on any abuses
of power attempted by President Trump.
The real meaning of “law and order”
Trump has spent many years fighting (and losing) battles in court, mostly over business-related lawsuits brought by
jilted contractors and other former associates. So maybe he feels comfortable
in a courtroom. Which is good. He’ll need all the experience he can get,
because much of what he has proposed is unconstitutional, and the courts will
likely say so.
Furthermore, Trump will
quickly find that business law and constitutional law are vastly different
beasts. Mr. Trump has threatened to sue the New York Times. The First Amendment makes
that a no go. Racial profiling, which Trump has called for? Courts have struck
it down as violating the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of Equal Protection
of the laws.
Ban all Muslims? He’ll
be hit with lawsuits based on the First Amendment’s prohibition of establishing
a religion, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. It may also
violate international treaties.
Could President Trump
order the IRS to audit his enemies? No. A court would likely find that the
President was unconstitutionally punishing them for exercising their First
Amendment rights.
Sue the women who have
accused him of sexual assault? Good luck with that. The First Amendment
protects their right to speak out. As a high profile public figure, he’d have
to prove by “clear and convincing evidence”—a high legal standard—that they
deliberately lied. (Note: I’ve represented four Trump accusers in the last few
months, and I’ve said publicly that I would proudly represent for free any
women sued by Donald Trump for making truthful statements about sexual
misconduct, and crowd fund defense costs.)
How about rounding up
and deporting those here illegally? While many undocumented workers are already
deported, Mr. Trump’s stated goal of deporting eleven million people would
require heavy funding (by Congress) and then searching out, finding, rounding
up and removing people from the country in a manner that does not violate
Americans’ rights to be free from police state tactics, unlawful searches and
seizures, and racial profiling. Such an effort would surely be met with massive
lawsuits to protect Hispanic Americans’ rights. And the Due Process Clause of
the Fifth Amendment applies to everyone in the United States, not just
citizens.
The rule of law, not Trump
The president is not
above the law. We learned that when then President Bill Clinton had to respond
to a sexual harassment lawsuit while he was in office. A sitting president can
be sued, although his attorneys can ask the court for a stay, that is, for a
hold on the proceedings so that the President may conduct important business.
Mr. Trump is currently staring down various Trump
University fraud cases, and his lawyers are seeking to delay them now on the
ground that he is busy. Of course, he’s about to get much busier, running the
country.
Finally, an assurance
for the nation’s women and girls: You may be worried about your personal safety
right now. It may feel as though Trump’s election has normalized or somehow
validated the ugly and misogynist statements that he and his followers
repeatedly made on the campaign trail. But this election hasn’t suddenly made
sexual assault legal. Laws exist, and are
here to protect you. If
Trump—or anybody else—gropes a woman, he can and will be subject to vigorous
criminal prosecution and civil suits.
We are a country of laws
that even the President must follow. It’s easy to huff and puff on the campaign
trail. President Trump is about to be humbled by something he cannot beat with
insults or threats: the US Constitution.
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