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Donald Trump's Attacks On Our Democracy: Pt. 2--Trump's Attacks On Our Judicial System

Submitted by Robin Messing on Thu, 10/22/2020 - 6:58am

 

Our Founding Fathers established three co-equal branches with the intent that each branch would act as a check and balance to keep the other two in line. The Judicial Branch is a pillar of our democracy intended to prevent the Legislative and Executive branches from becoming too powerful and abusive. Autocrats abhor any checks on their power, and Donald Trump is no different. The Brennan Center For Justice has this to say about Trump and the judicial branch.

 

Donald Trump has displayed a troubling pattern of attacking judges and the courts for rulings he disagrees with — a pattern that began during his presidential campaign (and even before), and has continued into his presidency.

 

This threatens our entire system of government. The courts are bulwarks of our Constitution and laws, and they depend on the public to respect their judgments and on officials to obey and enforce their decisions. Fear of personal attacks, public backlash, or enforcement failures should not color judicial decision-making, and public officials have a responsibility to respect courts and judicial decisions. Separation of powers is not a threat to democracy; it is the essence of democracy.

 

There is no need for me to discuss Trump's attacks against our judicial system here because the Brennan Center has compiled a long list of attacks that does just that. I highly recommend visiting their site for more details.

Miles Taylor was the Chief of Staff of Homeland Security under Trump. He quit his job because he was disturbed by what he saw. One among many disturbing things that Taylor saw was Trump's desire to gut the judicial branch. Watch this video from 46:45 - 50:02. According to Taylor, Trump wanted his aides to draft legislation to bring to Congress to get rid of judges who were ruling against him.

 

 

 


This is the second of a five-part series documenting Trump's attacks on our democracy. Here are the other articles in the series

  1. Trump has politicized the Justice Department to help his friends and attack his enemies.
  2. Trump has attacked our courts and judicial system.
  3. Trump has attacked the free press and made it more dangerous for reporters to cover him.
  4. Trump is a stochiastic terrorist who has endangered the life of Michigan's Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and others.
  5. Trump has refused to commit himself to the peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election