Our policymakers do not respect the rule of law. They often cloak violations of the law in the garb of desperation and frustration, demanding that something must be done, even if that something violates the thoughtfulness and restraint that good governance requires. It is a sign of our privilege that our government is able to disrespect the rule of law so frequently and without regard for the costs. We seem to assume we can ignore it when convenient without compromising its power and, therefore, its benefits.
By Washington Examiner – Adam Carrington
Apr 27, 2023
Nowhere does this fallacy manifest more often than on immigration . We speak of the need for reform in both desperate and frustrated terms, in part because the status quo is untenable and the powers that be refuse to act as they should.
REPUBLICANS TO DEBUT LONG-AWAITED BORDER BILL IN IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL
The Biden administration has provided the latest example of this lawbreaking. A recent New York Times piece explains how “President Biden has opened a back door to allow hundreds of thousands of new immigrants into the country.” These immigrants include persons from war-torn Ukraine and from politically troubled South American countries such as Venezuela and Nicaragua.
One can debate the merits of differing levels of immigration, what countries’ immigrants should receive preferences, and other like factors. But these are not questions for the Biden administration to decide. The Constitution makes clear that such policy is a matter for Congress and Congress alone.
The New York Times piece implicitly concedes this point, noting repeatedly the lack of substantive congressional action on immigration. The legislature’s lack of action certainly is frustrating, regardless of whether you think new laws should focus on border security or opening up the application process.
Yet none of this excuses the Biden administration’s deliberate violation of the rule of law. Fundamental policy is established through lawmaking, whereby we create the rules by which we order our lives together. The Constitution does not grant unilateral legislative power to the president, much less officers within the executive branch. Instead, it vests the primary power to legislate in Congress (with the president having the ability to sign or veto bills).
It is true that the executive branch must have some decision-making regarding how to enforce the laws. The New York Times piece calls this authority “discretion.” However, discretion about how something is done is not the same as a blanket power to create new law or ignore existing law. Policy decisions of such magnitude must go through Congress, created by the legislative process crafted by our founders and required in our Constitution.
To act otherwise undermines our system of governance, which is what policymakers have been doing on immigration for decades. President Barack Obama skirted legal bounds when he established the policies of Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. His administration refused to enforce the rules as mandated by our legislative branch, even after Obama admitted his plan needed congressional approval to be constitutional. President Donald Trump, too, played fast and loose with appropriations money for building his wall, even though he also acknowledged in his threats to shut down the government that Congress needed to act before he could build.
Why should we find such consistent undermining so troubling? What danger does its continuance really present? To answer these questions, we must return to the fact that the rule of law provides many benefits we too often take for granted. It generally gives us equal protection through rules rather than the personal whims of public officials. It thereby secures us in the fundamental rights and political privileges necessary for free and popular government. Take away the rule of law, and we must eventually fall into the anarchy of the mob, the tyranny of elites in government, or some warring combination of the two.
America should reject Biden’s rule by fiat. And the Supreme Court should reject these policies by declaring them contrary to the Constitution. It already has done so on other matters such as environmental protection, and it should continue to rein in runaway executive and bureaucratic power here. But ultimately, the voters should reject such deeds. We should vote not just for the policies we want, but in defense of the process the Constitution demands. Let us vote for the rule of law rather than for hapless politicians who take it for granted.
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Read More: Washington Examiner – Biden’s latest immigration move undermines the rule of law
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