The well-known and renowned liberal law professor Jonathan Turley said at a hearing Wednesday that we are at a “constitutional tipping point” under President Obama. Turley again repeated his argument in an interview with “Fox and Friends” on Friday, warning that the system of checks and balances was designed to protect individual rights, not the institutions of government.
Turley did say that the imperial presidency did begin under President George W. Bush, but that it has “accelerated under President Obama.” However, what may account for the speedy power grab under Obama, is the utter lack of refusal by the members of the Democratic Party to challenge the blatant tyrannical overreach. Under Bush, many on the right were grossly uncomfortable with the amount of executive power obtained under the banner of national security. Yet, just one now-former congressman, Dennis Kucinich, was openly opposed to the power grab, and he was primaries out of his seat by a lock-and-step Democrat.
“What they don’t seem to appreciate, is that this will not be the last president,” Turley said. “And those who are silent today will have a hard time speaking up when the next president says I just don’t feel like enforcing environmental laws, or discrimination laws. Then they are going to find it very hard to voice opposition,” he added.
During the state of the union address President Obama told members of Congress that he was prepared to implement policy by executive fiat and circumvent Congress. Turley said it was “particularly bizarre” and disturbing that it was met with “rapturous applause,” because he was applauded for diminishing their power.
“The framers did not want anyone to have enough power to be able to go it alone, because they could also commit great abuses,” which we are now seeing under President Obama with his multiple instances of refusing to uphold his oath to faithfully execute the laws of the United States. Obama, from immigration to ObamaCare, has during too many occasions simply decided which laws he would enforce and which laws he would nullify.
He addressed the oft-repeated claim that Obama must use executive power to go-around Congress, because Congress isn’t getting enough done. “It’s an excuse,” he said. The system was designed for this purpose, and it’s working. When too much extreme policy is being implemented without the consent of the governed the Congress has the power to reign it in and stop the steamrolling by the executive branch.
As far as impeachment, he said that you “cannot use impeachment as a check and balance,” because it is “like running a nuclear power plant with an on and off switch,” suggesting that the problem is far deeper than realized and impeachment cannot stop long-term abuses. “We need to get back to the system of checks and balances,” he said.
