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Senate Democrats scored one of their biggest wins in the reconciliation Byrd Bath process by having the Senate parliamentarian rule that the provision in the tax cut legislation that would have allowed Trump to remove court orders must be tossed out.
Schumer said in a statement:
Senate Republicans tried to write Donald Trump’s contempt for the courts into law—gutting judicial enforcement, defying the Constitution, and bulldozing the very rule of law that forms our democracy. It was nothing short of an assault on the system of checks and balances that has anchored this nation since its founding, and a brazen attempt crown Trump king.
But Senate Democrats stopped them cold. We successfully fought for rule of law and struck out this reckless and downright un-American provision.
If enacted, this would have been one of the most brazen power grabs we’ve seen in American history —an attempt to let a future President Trump ignore court orders with impunity, putting him above the law.
Donald Trump is not above the law. And thanks to Senate Democrats – including the tireless work of Senator Durbin and the Judiciary Democrats – the courts can still hold him and any president accountable.
Sen. Schumer also pointed out that the Senate version of the provision was even worse than what the House passed, because it required anyone seeking an order against the Trump administration to pay an expensive up-front fee, thus turning the courts into a pay-to-play system.
The provision was doomed from the start because it had nothing to do with the budget, which is why the Senate version added the fee to make it appear to be a budgetary item.
This was an important win for justice and democracy. Republicans tried to use a tax-cut bill to give Trump the ability to ignore the courts.
The lesson here is that Trump is the figurehead, but the entire Republican Party has become an anti-constitution and anti-democracy party.
Democrats and the American people must always stay vigilant until Republicans are defeated.
What do you think about Democrats getting the ignore the courts provision removed? Let’s talk about it in the comments below.
