I learned basic civics in my public school. But mostly, because it was more interesting, I also learned civics after school by watching the animated series “Schoolhouse Rock,” often with my abuela – my grandmother – who took care of me.
Back then, “Schoolhouse Rock” had a wonderful episode, “Three Ring Government.” In singing narration, the characters explained: “about the government, and how it’s arranged, divided in three, like a three-ring circus.”
Those three circles, all the same size, kept each other honest. For many in my generation, those three rings were our introduction to the idea of the checks and balances built into the U.S. government. They include the separation of powers among the legislative, judicial and executive branches.
In short, we learned, that Congress passes the laws, the president administers the laws, and the courts interpret the laws.
This elegant but simple system stood in contrast to the nearly unshackled power of the British king, who ruled over the American colonies before independence. And it provided representation for “We the People,” because we vote for members of Congress.
During its first month, the second Trump administration has pushed a new balance of these powers, granting the president expansive and far-reaching authority. These actions imperil the power of elected lawmakers in the House and Senate to pass legislation, oversee the federal government and exercise spending authority.
Most U.S. legal scholars regarded these issues as fairly settled. Trump’s recent actions, however, have unsettled this understanding.
Several of the Trump administration’s recent actions appear designed to test the legal viability of an expansive, more “kinglike” view of presidential powers.
Yet for the most part, Congress as an institution has mostly remained silent as the executive branch invades its sphere of authority.
Instead, the courts have served as a check on his power by stalling, temporarily, more than a dozen of Trump’s presidential actions that surpass the executive powers permitted under various laws and the Constitution.
Most of these stays are only temporary. They were issued based on the recognition that the immediate harm of unlawful presidential overreach would be difficult to roll back.
In the end, the Supreme Court will likely decide the scope of presidential powers in various contexts. If they rule in Trump’s favor, the U.S. government will become a one-ring circus run by a kinglike president – precisely what it was never meant to be.
Click here to read in-depth the three examples of how the balance of power is being upset by Trump and his administration.
Read the full article on The Conversation.
