Category: Blaze Media
Trump v. Slaughter exposes who really fears democracy
In the recently argued Trump v. Slaughter case, most of the U.S. Supreme Court seemed to affirm what should be obvious: The president has a constitutional right under Article II to dismiss federal employees in the executive branch when it suits him.
That conclusion strikes many of us as self-evident. Executive-branch employees work under the president, who alone among them is chosen in a nationwide election. Bureaucrats are not. Why, then, should the chief executive’s subordinates be insulated from his control?
When the Roberts Court overturned Roe in 2022 and returned the issue to the states, many voters responded with fury. The electorate did not welcome responsibility. It resented it.
A vocal minority on the court appears to reject that premise. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor warned that allowing a president — implicitly a Republican one — to control executive personnel would unleash political chaos. Jackson suggested Trump “would be free to fire all the scientists, the doctors, the economists, and PhDs” working for the federal government. Sotomayor went further, claiming the administration was “asking to destroy the structure of government.”
David Harsanyi, in a perceptive commentary, identified what animates this view: “fourth-branch blues.” The administrative state now exercises power that rivals or exceeds that of the constitutional branches. As Harsanyi noted, nothing in the founders’ design envisioned “a sprawling autonomous administrative state empowered to create its own rules, investigate citizens, adjudicate guilt, impose fines, and destroy lives.”
Yet defenders of this system frame presidential oversight as a threat to “democracy.” Democrats, who present themselves as democracy’s guardians, warn that allowing agency officials to answer to the elected president places the nation in peril. The argument recalls their reaction to the Dobbs case, when the court returned abortion policy to voters and was accused of “undermining democracy” by doing so.
RELATED: This Supreme Court case could reverse a century of bureaucratic overreach
Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
On that point, Harsanyi and I agree. Judicial and bureaucratic overreach distort constitutional government. The harder question is whether voters object.
From what I can tell, most do not. Many Americans seem content to trade constitutional self-government for managerial rule, provided the system delivers benefits and protects their expressive preferences. The populist right may bristle at this arrangement, but a leftist administrative state that claims to speak for “the people” may reflect the electorate’s will.
Recent elections reinforce that suspicion. Voters showed little interest in reclaiming authority from courts or bureaucracies. They appeared far more interested in government largesse and symbolic rights than in the burdens of republican self-rule.
Consider abortion. Roe v. Wade rested on shaky legal ground, yet large segments of the public enthusiastically embraced it for nearly 50 years. When the Roberts Court overturned Roe in 2022 and returned the issue to the states, many voters responded with fury. States enacted expansive abortion laws, and Democrats benefited from unusually high turnout. The electorate did not welcome responsibility. It resented it.
This reaction should not surprise anyone familiar with history. In 1811, Spaniards rejected the liberal constitution imposed by French occupiers, crying “abajo el liberalismo” — down with liberalism. They did not want abstract rights. They wanted familiar authority.
At least half of today’s American electorate appears similarly disposed. Many prefer guided democracy administered by judges and managers to the uncertainties of self-government. Their votes signal approval for continued rule by the administrative state. Republicans may slow this process at the margins, but Democrats expand it openly, and voters just empowered them to do so.
RELATED: Stop letting courts and consultants shrink Trump’s signature promise
Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images
I anticipated this outcome decades ago. In “After Liberalism” (1999), I argued that democracy as a universal ideal tends to produce expanded managerial control with popular consent. Nineteenth-century fears that mass suffrage would yield chaos proved unfounded. Instead the extension of the franchise coincided with more centralized, remote, and less accountable government.
As populations lost shared traditions and common authority, governance shifted away from democratic participation and toward expert administration. The state grew less personal, less local, and less answerable, even as it claimed to act in the people’s name.
Equally significant has been the administrative state’s success in presenting itself as the custodian of an invented “science of government.” According to this view, administrators form an enlightened elite, morally and intellectually superior to the unwashed masses. Justice Jackson’s warnings reflect this assumption.
I would like to believe, as Harsanyi suggests, that Americans find such attitudes insulting. I am no longer sure they do. Many seem pleased to be managed. They want judges and bureaucrats to make decisions for them.
That preference should trouble anyone who still cares about constitutional government.
DON’T CALL IT A KAMBACK: Kamala Harris Stepping Toward Another White House Run: Axios
Word salads may be back on the menu.
Australian PM says suspect in Bondi Beach massacre had been investigated for terror ties; vows to pass more gun control laws
The prime minister of Australia vowed to take whatever action is necessary to prevent more horrific terrorist attacks but immediately turned to gun control as the answer.
He also revealed that one of the two suspects in the massacre had been previously investigated over Islamic terror ties to a cell in Sydney.
‘What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of anti-Semitism, an act of terrorism.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the comments Monday after two gunmen opened fire at a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach and massacred at least 15 people.
“The government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws,” he said.
Among the proposals to further restrict gun ownership is a limit on the number of guns a person can own as well as a review of gun permits held over a period of time.
The two gunmen were shot by police during the attack and were identified as a father and son. The 50-year-old father died of the gunshot injuries, but the son survived and is in custody. He is hospitalized in serious condition.
Albanese went on to confirm that the Australian Security Intelligence Organization had previously investigated the younger suspected gunman for six months in 2019 over ties to an Islamic State cell in Sydney.
“He was examined on the basis of being associated with others, and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence,” Albanese added.
About 25 people are being treated at hospitals from the attack, and about 10 people are in critical condition.
RELATED: Chuck Schumer gives stunningly tone-deaf remarks following Australia attack
Video from the attack showed a brave man tackle one of the suspects and wrestle away his weapon. He was identified as Ahmed al Ahmed, a father of two girls and the son of refugee parents from Syria.
He was later shot in the incident and is recuperating at a hospital. A donation page set up for the heroic man has raised over $1.9 million.
“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of anti-Semitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location, Bondi Beach, that is associated with joy, associated with families gathering, associated with celebrations, and it is forever tarnished by what has occurred last evening,” Albanese said.
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Leslie Jones wants every ICE employee to go to prison: ‘Y’all know y’all did wrong stuff!’
Comedienne and actress Leslie Jones opined that the proper way to set things right is to send every employee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to jail.
The former Saturday Night Live cast member made the comments while being interviewed by Nicolle Wallace on “The Best People” podcast.
‘I just want a reckoning. I want a reckoning. Y’all know y’all did wrong stuff. You know some of the stuff you did was so wrong.’
Jones said there should be a reckoning after the midterm elections.
“Girl, I’m hoping, this is what I’m hoping, that midterms, people come out and vote like crazy to switch it over, and then the reckoning comes,” Jones said to a laughing Wallace.
“That’s why I want all, everybody that work for ICE, I want them in jail,” she added. “I just want a reckoning. I want a reckoning. Y’all know y’all did wrong stuff. You know some of the stuff you did was so wrong. I need a reckoning. Because that’s, to me, that’s the only thing that’s gonna make it right.”
She also called for some accountability for others involved in politics.
“You see somebody that’s doing something completely terrible, like some of these influencers, these crazy folks, and we let them go because freedom of speech, of course, but there should be accountability,” she added.
“Gravity, like things should fall,” Wallace chimed in.
Video of Jones’ comments were widely circulated on social media.
RELATED: Conservative writer posts same Tweet as ‘Ghostbusters’ actress — see what happened
Mass deportations have been a large part of President Donald Trump’s agenda in order to combat the influx of illegal aliens after four years under the Biden administration. Some of those efforts have been stymied by legal challenges.
Fox News said ICE did not respond to a request for comment about Jones’ wishes.
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‘A Foundation of My Politics’: Graham Platner Calls To Return Maine Land to ‘Indigenous Population’
Senate candidate Graham Platner (D., Maine) called to return land to natives in the state he’s running to represent, arguing that longstanding injustices committed by state and federal governments remain unresolved.
The post ‘A Foundation of My Politics’: Graham Platner Calls To Return Maine Land to ‘Indigenous Population’ appeared first on .
Atlanta police make arrest in connection with homeowner who cops say shot 2 teenage porch pirates
Atlanta police made an arrest late last week in connection with a homeowner who cops said shot two teenage porch pirates.
Police said Rakim Bradford, 34, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Fulton County Jail records indicate Bradford was booked into jail Friday and released Sunday.
Police said officers responded around 3:40 p.m. Thursday to the scene on Celeste Lane SW and found a 16-year-old male who apparently was shot in his right arm, and a 15-year-old male who apparently was shot in his right foot.
The 16-year-old male was taken to a hospital in critical condition, underwent surgery, and is expected to survive his injury, police said, adding that the 15-year-old was alert, conscious, and breathing, and was transported to a hospital for treatment.
RELATED: Atlanta homeowner shoots 2 juveniles who were taking packages from his porch, police say
Bradford’s arrest warrant indicates the teens saw a delivery van in the townhome complex and then “agreed to steal that package from the front of the residence,” Atlanta News First reported.
However, before the teens were able to make off with the package, Bradford opened the door and shot at them, Atlanta News First added, citing the warrant.
“Don’t go and steal people’s packages,” neighbor Andrew Julian told Atlanta News First. “On the other side of that, what right do you have to defend your own home, and then what decision do you make to defend your own home based on somebody taking an item off of your porch? So, it’s certainly a conversation to be had.”
Nubian Barnes, a neighbor of Bradford’s in the Villages of Cascade Townhome community, told WSB-TV she could understand his frustrations: “I can. But to shoot them. I don’t know. I just don’t feel he should have shot him.”
Barnes added to the station that shooting the teens could have resulted in fatalities: “And then he would have been facing murder charges. All because of a package that probably didn’t cost that much. Definitely didn’t cost a human life.”
Reginald Boudreaux added to WSB that the shooting was “crazy to me. Like, you call the police. That’s what police are for.”
Quin King noted to WSB that the shooting was “just so much over packages. Packages can be replaced,” she said.
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Judicial Watch sues DOJ for Jack Smith emails regarding his investigation into Donald Trump
From Just the News: The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch announced Thursday that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Department, seeking emails from former Special Counsel Jack Smith over his investigation into President Donald Trump. The lawsuit, which was filed last month but publicly announced Thursday, is seeking Smith’s emails with […]
The post Judicial Watch sues DOJ for Jack Smith emails regarding his investigation into Donald Trump appeared first on Judicial Watch.
Boston sued by Judicial Watch for withholding public records tied to Mayor Wu’s pro-immigration rally
From The Boston Herald: Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group, is suing the City of Boston over public records it says the city failed to produce for internal emails and costs tied to the mayor’s defiant pro-sanctuary press conference that featured a mariachi band. The lawsuit filed Monday in Suffolk Superior Court alleges that the City of […]
The post Boston sued by Judicial Watch for withholding public records tied to Mayor Wu’s pro-immigration rally appeared first on Judicial Watch.
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