House Dem Warns The Guardrails to Protect Judicial Rulings From Trump Have to Come From Inside The GOP
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday and was asked to weigh in on recent signals from the Trump administration that they believe courts have no right to restrict the executive branch.
“Congressman, I want to get you to weigh in on what’s going on right now with all the different judges making orders to pause these executive orders that whether it’s shutting down USAID or the long list right now of judicial pushback. There has been some word from the administration through tweets, I will say, from the vice president, as well as to Republican senators, saying that, you know, the courts don’t really have the final say, alluding to it. What is your take on where this potentially could be going?” asked co-host Mika Brzezinski.
“Well, it’s very scary for someone who is a graduate of the best law school in our country to send that tweet out, effectively denying the rule of law that guides and governs this country, separation of powers that is inherent in our Constitution,” Goldman said referring to a post from Vice President JD Vance suggesting court ruling should not be followed.
“And to say, how dare a judge put any guardrails or restrictions around the executive branch that is a check and balance for from co-equal branches of government,” Goldman continued, adding:
That is the foundation of our government. And the judiciary has to stand up to make sure that the laws are followed. If Donald Trump is not going to faithfully execute the laws as the Constitution requires him to do, that’s why you have a judiciary. And where we will really reach a constitutional crisis is if, as he seems to be setting up, the administration just disregards and defies court orders.
Our country, our system 250 years has never dealt with that situation since Marbury versus Madison in 1803. And if that is where we are going, that is a constitutional crisis, the likes of which we have never seen before.
“Well, that’s the sort of ultimate where the rubber meets the road. Like what happens if we go there? I’m sort of scared to jump ahead of the story here. But since it’s been alluded to, what are the guardrails?” Brzezinski followed up.
“Well, the guardrails are going to have to be from within the Republican Party. I hear a lot of Democrats in Washington. I hear, what are you doing? What are you going to do? Right. Well, the reality is, you know, we have some measures that we can take. We have some strategies. There are some things we can do. But the Republicans are in the majority in the Senate and the House,” Goldman replied, adding:
They control what legislation is on the floor. They control subpoena power. They control oversight and investigations. Ultimately, if our democracy is going to stand up for and beyond Donald Trump, it is going to have to come from within the Republican Party. And people are going to have to say that Donald Trump is a billionaire who is entirely narcissistic and selfish, only cares about himself.
Elon Musk is the world’s richest man who clearly only cares about himself. That is not what our democracy was founded upon. And we’re going to need some Republicans, frankly, who are willing to lose, who are willing to be Liz Cheney and say, I will lose my seat to do the right thing by this country, not the right thing by Donald Trump. I haven’t seen it yet. Let’s hope.
Watch above via MSNBC.
