The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is pushing back against the Supreme Court’s recent presidential immunity ruling, suggesting Democrats are eyeing ways to limit former President Trump’s abilities that were expanded by the high court’s decision.
“It is up to Congress, the representative branch of the people, to defend the constitutional order against presidents who would trample the freedoms of the people,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said at a press conference alongside former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh.
“This declaration is about protecting the freedoms of the people by closing statutory loopholes that could allow a president to exploit the executive power to trample constitutional freedom and liberty.”
He’s helping to spearhead an effort urging members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to sign a “No Dictators Declaration.”
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Raskin, who held the press conference backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Monday, did not mention Trump by name.
The website for the effort similarly stresses that “this isn’t a partisan issue.”
When explaining the “five pillars” of the pledge, however, Raskin alluded to a host of accusations that have been lodged against the former president.
“It’s got five main pillars to it – one, limiting the president’s power to declare bogus domestic and foreign emergencies to seize power and bypass congressional authority. Two, restricting the president’s ability to use the Insurrection Act to deploy the military domestically against the people,” Raskin said.
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“Three – preventing the adoption of partisan, personal and ideological loyalty tests, loyalty oaths and similar authoritarian measures designed to purge the professional civil service, and replace qualified workers with unqualified party loyalists and sycophants.”
“Four, ensuring that presidents who abuse their powers to commit crimes can be prosecuted like all other citizens. Because no one is above the law in America, and those of us who aspire and attain to public office are nothing but the servants of the people,” he continued. “And fifth, constraining the president’s ability to use investigative and prosecutorial decisions and resources to pursue personal political vendettas against disfavored groups and perceived enemies of the president.”
Trump’s Supreme Court case stems from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into the ex-president and his allies’ alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Smith filed an amended, superceding indictment against Trump in the case after the court’s conservative majority granted the office of the president broad immunity for “official” acts, the specifics of which were to be determined by lower courts.
Asked by Fox News Digital whether the effort could turn into legislative action if Democrats win the House majority in November, Raskin suggested it was possible.
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“I hope that when we get back in, that we will be able to have at least a couple of serious hearings about the problem of overreach in the executive branch and weakness to potential tyrants and despots and dictators,” Raskin said.
“I hope that those hearings would lead us to create a legislative package to address these structural deficiencies in our statutory system.”
He added, “I would hope that Republicans would come along.”
Walsh, a Tea Party Republican who left office in January 2013 and who has been a vocal Trump critic, also heavily suggested Trump inspired the “No Dictators” effort but noted it brought together himself and Raskin, despite their larger political disagreements.
“We’re locked in arms right now because we have somebody running for president who has promised to be a dictator,” Walsh said. “This is a bipartisan effort every member of the House and every member of the Senate should easily sign and pledge that they don’t want – we will not have a dictator as president.”
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