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This is a very good and important thread about not overreacting to the whole emergency declaration thing. Read it. However! (1/ )
The important context here is that we're dealing with a lawless presidency. (2/ )
All presidents try to stretch their formal authority; that's natural, and in many ways healthy. Energy in the executive! Ambition countering ambition! (3/ )
Which doesn't mean Congress, the courts, the bureaucracy, the states, etc. shouldn't fight back. They should, and for the same reasons. The whole theory* of the US government is that this is a virtuous circle and creates all sorts of positive results.
*Yeah, I know, the compromises that created all this stuff came first, and then Madison and his later followers back-rigged a theory of why it was good. But he was correct!
But in cases where the president actively and continually ignores the law - basically, Nixon and Trump - that context overrides the normal interpretation of everything.
It all *necessarily* is seen as a threat to the Constitutional order, and not just hey, the president is pushing the boundaries again, that's what presidents do.
Because the ongoing and constant lawless condition of the presidency (from obstruction to emoluments to "enemies of the people" and on and on and on) makes us have to treat every one of these pushes as part of a corrupt whole.
And, yes, this is exactly why it's impossible to escape from thinking about impeachment and removal as a possibly necessary remedy. It's *not* punishment for a crime. Presidential lawlessness subverts the healthy functioning of government, including the presidency. (/end)
