Jim Beam column:Checks, balances don't exist
Today's Republican members of Congress and conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have apparently forgotten about the checks and balances provided for in the Constitution. Under President Donald Trump, it is abundantly clear that the executive branch has almost complete control of the federal government.
James Madison, the father of the Constitution, defended the checks and balances in that document that don't exist at the moment.
Madison said, 'The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.'
We are awfully close to that point today. Trump has pretty much ignored the rulings of federal courts. Republicans in Congress are so frightened Trump will fight them at the next election they are either doing his bidding or deciding not to run for re-election.
The civics text that I used years ago said the three branches of government are not completely independent of one another. While each branch has its own distinct field of powers, it is subject to a series of constitutional checks which the other branches may exercise against it.
The president, for example, may veto acts of Congress, but Congress has the right to override those vetoes by a two-thirds majority vote. Or Congress may refuse to appropriate funds requested by the president, which the current GOP Congress doesn't have the courage to do.
Congress can also impeach the president, judges and other civil officers. Its members had the courage to impeach Trump twice during his first term — on Dec. 18, 2019, and Jan. 13, 2021.
The first impeachment stemmed from a call Trump had with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Trump wanted him to investigate the Bidens and some in Ukraine who interfered in the 2016 election.
The second impeachment followed the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump was impeached for 'incitement to insurrection.' In each case, he was acquitted on all counts by the Senate. Conviction requires a two-thirds vote of senators present. When all 100 are there, it requires 67 votes.
The votes on the two articles at the first trial were 48-52 and 47-53. The vote at the second trial was 57-43.
Federal courts have the power to pass on the constitutionality of acts of Congress or actions of the president (judicial review).
President Harry Truman in 1952 seized the steel industry to prevent a strike. However, the Supreme Court said that was a job for Congress, and that Truman had exceeded his powers.
My civics text said the check and balance system makes compromise necessary, and compromise is of the essence in a democratic system. Unfortunately, compromise has pretty much become a lost art in today's hostile political climate.
Many political scientists are convinced Trump was elected based on his promise to get control of immigration. The unrestricted flow along the nation's borders during the President Joe Biden administration bothered many Americans (Democrats and Republicans).
Trump continues to insist getting illegal immigrants out of this country is his No. 1 priority. In order to do that, some members of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have taken questionable actions when rounding up immigrants.
Going back to that civics text, it says democracy cannot succeed except where all people are entitled to fair treatment under the law. It adds that both the national Constitution and constitutions of the various states contain numerous guarantees of fair treatment for those accused of crime.
The 14th Amendment reinforces the guarantees against unfair treatment by the states. And the Writ of Habeas Corpus is a court order directing that a person being held be brought before the court so a judge can determine whether the prisoner is being illegally detained.
That hasn't happened for many immigrants who have been rounded up and shipped to some country they have probably never heard of. The courts have tried to stop it, but the Trump administration throws up as many roadblocks as possible.
Kristi Noem, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under which ICE operates, during a Senate hearing in May said habeas corpus was 'a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their rights.'
Anyone who thinks this country's democracy isn't in trouble hasn't been keeping up with the news.
Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jim.beam.press@gmail.com. Reply Forward
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