It Turns Out, the President’s Power Is Checked by More Than Just His Own Mind |
The Supreme Court striking down Trump’s tariffs made me think of this comment from the president, a bit more than a month ago, in an Oval Office interview with The New York Times:
Katie Rogers: Do you see any checks on your power on the world stage? Is there anything that could stop you if you wanted to? President Trump: Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me, and that’s very good.
Katie Rogers: Do you see any checks on your power on the world stage? Is there anything that could stop you if you wanted to?
President Trump: Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me, and that’s very good.
The president’s power is not checked merely by his own morality and his own mind. His power is held in check by the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of that Constitution. It is worth remembering that the president begins his term by taking the oath of office, swearing to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” If you walk around insisting that the only limit on your power is your own mind, you are not preserving, protecting, or defending the Constitution and its limits on the power of the presidency.
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Trump made it easy for critics of his tariff policy when he increased tariffs on Canada because he didn’t like a television commercial and when he increased tariffs on Switzerland because he didn’t like the tone of the country’s president. Through his actions and statements, Trump contended that he could raise tariffs on any country to any level at any time for any reason, well beyond any reasonable interpretation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.