WHQR Sunday Edition, 02.16.25
President James Madison, who wrote the Bill of Rights and 29 of the 85 Federalist Papers, is known as the “Father of the Constitution.”
Madison explained in Federalist No. 55 that the Founding Fathers separated power among three branches of government, because “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judicial 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.”
Trump’s Executive Order freezing “disbursement of all Federal financial assistance” is clearly unconstitutional. We know that because Richard Nixon tried to do the same thing.
Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution gives Congress sole power to pass laws spending federal money. Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution requires the President to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Nixon claimed he could decide whether or not to spend money Congress had appropriated. A unanimous Supreme Court ruled that presidents cannot withhold funds for programs that Congress has authorized.
Two federal judges blocked Trump’s unconstitutional power grab, ruling that Trump’s “failure to spend funds appropriated by Congress violates the separation of powers.”
A third federal judge blocked Elon Musk from carrying out Trump’s order by taking over a critical Treasury Department payment system because it risks “disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and…hacking.”
Sen. Tillis (R-NC), a huge Musk cheerleader, shrugged off Musk’s Treasury tampering, saying “innovation requires pushing the envelope and taking calculated risks.”
Tillis figures he cannot win reelection without Trump’s support, so he’s decided to rubber stamp whatever Trump does, even when it’s unconstitutional. Tillis agrees that Trump’s freeze “runs afoul of the Constitution,” but, he says, “nobody should bellyache about that.”
Yes, Senator Tillis, somebody should, and that somebody is you, because you swore to defend the Constitution in your Oath of Office. If you won’t honor your oath, step aside so we can elect a senator who will.
Kristine Garrity
Calabash
Comments