The framers of our Constitution, wary of a monarchy which imposed its will arbitrarily on the colonies, created a Congress in the first Article of the founding document. Thus, Article I said “all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress”. Unfortunately, many of those powers have been usurped and undermined by this President. Here are but a few examples of Congressional powers being bypassed by an unchecked President:
1. The Constitution requires a census of the United States population every ten years so as to fairly apportion members in districts of the House of Representatives. In contradiction of this requirement, various states, at the insistence of the President, are re-districting prior to the decennial census so as to gain partisan advantage in the House of Representatives.
2. The Constitution lays out a process by which vacancies are filled in the House of Representatives. But despite a governor calling and conducting a special election to fill a vacancy, again at the insistence of the President, a partisan Speaker of the House refused to administer the oath of office to the winner.
3. The Constitution empowers the states, through its legislatures, to conduct elections, including the methods by which such elections are held. The President is insisting, contrary to the practices in many states, that mail-in ballots should not be counted and that certain persons not be permitted to vote.
4. The Constitution requires that all bills to raise revenue originate in the House of Representatives, and that no money be spent except through appropriations by the Congress. However the President has unilaterally spent previously appropriated funds for purposes of his own choosing, and further declined to spend funds already appropriated.
5. The Constitution gives Congress the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises. However, the President, in invoking a number of emergency powers, has unilaterally imposed tariffs on many countries not necessarily to raise revenue or protect certain industries, but to punish them for reasons often unrelated to foreign trade.
6. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. However, the President has used his own power as Commander in Chief of the armed forces to take military action abroad without any specific grant of such power by the Congress.
7. The Constitution gives Congress the power to provide for the militia to suppress an insurrection and repel invasions. However, the President has invoked his own authority to federalize the militia and deploy it in a number of states, for other reasons, not only without the permission of the governor, but with the active opposition of the governor.
8. The Constitution requires the writ of habeas corpus not be suspended except in cases of rebellion, or invasion. However, using certain emergency powers granted to the President, he has suspended this privilege to control immigration of certain citizens not preferred by him.
9. The Constitution gives the president power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to nominate officers of the United States. However, many vacancies are subject to term limitations which the President has chosen to ignore by illegally re-appointing such individuals to serve in successive terms in order to avoid confirmation by the Senate.
10. The Constitution stipulates that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States. However, the President has unilaterally declared that certain individuals born to unauthorized immigrants in the United States are not automatically entitled to citizenship.