The president's efforts here to take over an organization outside of those bounds, contrary to statute established by Congress and by acts of force and threat using local and federal law enforcement officers, represented a gross usurpation of power and a way of conducting government affairs that unnecessarily traumatized the committed leadership and employees of USIP, who deserved better.
Judge Howell criticized Trump's actions as a misuse of presidential power.
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More from Beryl Howell
Mr. Trump seems intent on pushing the bounds of his office and exercising his power in a manner violative of clear statutory law to test how much the courts will accept the notion of a presidency that is supreme.
It sends chills down my spine when you say that if the president in his view has the position that an individual, or an entity, or a company is operating a way that is not in the nation’s interest, he can issue an executive order like this.
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.
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.