Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen


Trump May Yet Have to Answer to the Law

May 26, 2020

Though President Trump openly tests the legal system and seems to flaunt the law, he may still have to answer and be held accountable. Yes, even though he’s made so many judicial appointments. Law professor and former general counsel to the House of Representatives Stan Brand says that the seeds of imperial presidency were planted long ago; Trump is a symptom not the cause. But Brand says there is a lack of legal precedent for direct confrontations between congress and the president so this is new territory. Legal processes take a long time and delays do help Trump. Brand explains that the apparent violation of the Constitutional Emoluments Clause is still in litigation. And we may yet see his tax records. The balance of power and whether we are a nation of laws remains at question.