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I GOTTA TELL YA -
Dear President Trump,
A few weeks ago, in an interview, you were asked if you know that your oath of office includes a promise to “uphold the Constitution.”
You said, “I don’t know.” I’m sure you understand that answer is not, as political operatives might say, “good optics.”
Now, I appreciate that your job is demanding. Between your official duties and all those late- night social media posts, I’m sure it can be a challenge to stay on top of everything. Still, the Constitution is the engine of our democracy so it’s kind of important that you know what it says. Perhaps a quick refresher course can help.
Let’s begin at the beginning. The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and assembly and press. A “free press” means that when your ICE agents arrest and seek to deport a Salvadoran reporter who has a valid visa and a pending application for citizenship, that violates the First Amendment (an incarcerated reporter isn’t free, right?) And, just in case you’re wondering, “free press” means you can’t jail the folks at CNN, either.
Similarly, freedom of assembly means that people who agree or disagree with some of your policies (for example, protesters who object to your immigration enforcement tactics) are allowed to do that so long as they don’t break any laws. Of course, when protestors do break laws, they should be held to account without exception.
That’s why it sure doesn’t help keep freedom of speech and assembly strong when you pardon hundreds who clearly violated laws when they stormed the Capitol (trespass, property damage, physical assaults on officers, disrupting an official government action). That might just encourage others to break the law, too.
Let’s move right along to the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. Taken together, they protect what the Constitution and lawyers call “due process of law” including demonstrated probable cause, the right to answer charges and the right to a speedy fair trial. While it may be politically convenient to allow ICE agents to incarcerate and expel immigrants without due process, it just isn’t legal.
On that subject, let’s jump ahead to the Fourteenth Amendment. That’s the one which specifies that anyone born or naturalized in the U.S. is a citizen entitled to “equal protection of the law.” That’s not difficult to understand, is it? You may not like it, but there’s no doubt that infants born in the U.S. are, by definition, citizens. And it may annoy you, but “equal protection” also means that it’s not Constitutional to arrest, incarcerate and deport individuals simply because they aren’t white, which seems to be ICE’s core principle.
Because it matters in your case, let’s spend a moment on the emoluments clause. It may be a little too deep in the weeds, but you’re sworn to uphold the entire Constitution, right? You can find it in Article 1, Section 9. It says no person holding office can accept gifts from foreign agents without prior approval of Congress. So, obviously, a President can’t accept a multi-million-dollar aircraft from a Middle-Eastern potentate until Congress says it’s okay.
Finally, when it comes to the structure of our government, the Constitution establishes three separate but equal branches, the Executive (that’s you and your staff), the Legislatures (the House and Senate), and the Courts; that last one should be easy for you, since you know all about courts. So, your effort to sue all the Federal lower court judges in Maryland because they don’t always support your initiatives is on pretty shaky ground. It also suggests that stepping around Congress with a gazillion Executive Orders is an affront to the system of governance which has served us most ably since the Constitution was ratified. It also deprives our elected representatives of a role in governing. That’s what all those folks are chanting “No Kings” are worried about.
There’s a lot more to know about, of course, but I hope these brief notes will make it easier for you to do your job upholding the Constitution.
Sincerely yours,
The Rule of Law
(David M. Hamlin writes for Citywatch/LA regularly. He is also the author of several novels and numerous short stories, two of which are available for free on his website: www.dmhwrites.com.)
