Beryl Howell: “The chilling effect of this executive order ... threatens to significantly undermine the integrity of our entire legal…”

An American President is not a king — not even an 'elected' one — and his power to remove federal officers and honest civil servants like plaintiff is not absolute, but may be constrained in appropriate circumstances, as are present here.

The chilling effect of this executive order, 14230, threatens to significantly undermine the integrity of our entire legal system.

The president's interpretation of the scope of his constitutional power — or, more aptly, his aspiration — is flat wrong.

His attempt to do so here is blatantly illegal, and his constitutional arguments to excuse this illegal act are contrary to Supreme Court precedent and over a century of practice.