Our System of Checks and Balances Might Not Survive Another Year

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court and its carefully manufactured conservative majority will hear the that may well determine for the foreseeable future the survival of the system of checks and balances, and which also may well determine whether the presidency is turned into everything the founders were afraid it might. The President of the United States has no Constitutional Council (a thing unknown in any safe and regular government), he will therefore be unsupported by proper information and advice; and will generally be directed by minions and favorites—or he will become a tool to the Senate—or a Council of State will grow out of the principal officers of the great departments; the worst and most dangerous of all ingredients for such a Council in a free country; for they may be induced to join in any dangerous or oppressive measures; to shelter themselves, and prevent an enquiry into their own misconduct in office. This case, while undeniably important, is the first of a series in which the court will be asked to solidify the presidency’s superiority over the other two branches of the government.

Author: Charles P. Pierce

---