Activist judges shouldn’t block the will of the people
by Rep. John Rose
Our Founding Fathers created a system of checks and balances that serves as the foundation of our great American republic. While our founders envisioned the elected executive and representative branches as driving our republic, we have seen a giant shift in power to the unelected judicial branch and bureaucrats.
President Donald Trump’s November victory was the first step in restoring balance and order once again. Trump was chosen to break the mold, to challenge the entrenched powers, and to steer the country in a direction that better reflects the wills of the American people. But there is a significant hurdle standing in his way: judges who have used their position to undermine the will of the voters and the president’s agenda.
The will of the voters is clear. We’ve demanded change and an end to the status quo that has dominated Washington, D.C., for decades. For far too long, power in America has concentrated in two areas: the courts and the bureaucracy. This trend has persisted across administrations, both Democratic and Republican, and it has left citizens wondering who really holds the power in this nation. Is it the elected representatives of the people, or is it the judges and bureaucrats who seem to make decisions far outside the scope of their original mandate?
Trump was elected precisely to challenge these entrenched elites and bring real change to Washington. He has the strength and courage to push back against the elite political class to bring much-needed change to our government. But too often, Trump’s efforts have been blocked by judges who have overstepped their bounds and allowed their personal agendas to interfere with necessary policy changes.
The role of federal judges should not be to set foreign policy or to dictate how the president can enforce immigration law. The courts should respect the boundaries of their authority and allow the executive branch to carry out its constitutionally mandated duties. Instead, we see the continued safety risk to the American people that weak immigration law has caused.
One particularly egregious example is Judge James Boasberg, who has repeatedly ruled in a manner that not only undermines the president’s efforts to safeguard the American people but also goes against the law and the popular will of the people. Over 77 million Americans voted for Trump; no one voted for Boasberg to be making decisions about our national security. Rulings such as these are an abuse of power and a threat to our democratic process.
We cannot afford to sit idly by while the judiciary undermines the will of the people and jeopardizes our safety. If judges such as Boasberg continue to abuse their power and act in contravention of the law, we should not hesitate to remove them.
Of course, the judiciary has an important role to play in interpreting the law, but the framers of the Constitution did not intend for the courts to be a super-legislature or to operate outside of the law and the people’s will. Congress created the lower courts, and it is well within its constitutional right to impose limits on their powers when necessary.
We should be drafting and passing legislation that reasserts the balance of power to the elected branches of government. It’s time for Congress to act. It’s time to reassert the will of the people and bring a halt to the overreach of the judiciary. We elected Trump to make changes, and we must not allow judges and their personal biases to stop that change from happening. The power of the people must always prevail.
