The Limits of Executive Power

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK / AASHISH KIPHAYET

The president was frustrated. He believed he had the power — in fact, the right — to fire a member of the government. Exercising the power of his office, he fired a member of the Federal Trade Commission. But the Supreme Court thought otherwise, overturning his authority and setting back his overall plans. The president watched three of his most important decisions be overturned that day by the court.

We aren’t talking about President Trump and his recent battles with federal judges, but Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), whose duels with the judiciary were fought almost 90 years ago. History repeats itself.

Federal judges blocked a flurry of Trump executive orders last week. The first was Trump’s executive order to end automatic citizenship for babies born on American soil. A judge immediately overturned the order, stating, “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”

The second was Trump’s pause on trillions of dollars in government spending. Another federal judge blocked that order. By the time of this writing, there was a third order and possibly a fourth one that judges were indicating they would overturn.