On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” The Atlantic Staff Writer David Brooks said that while he doesn’t think the Supreme Court did enough on constraining executive authority, “the court hates to take on a sitting president, because they don’t want to take on an elected official. Remember, the Roberts courts upheld Obamacare because they just didn’t want to upset what democracy had brought to us.”
Co-host Amna Nawaz asked, “David, one common thread seems to be an expansion of executive authority given to President Trump. Is that a good thing?”
Brooks answered, “No, but I would say — have to say, on the big authoritarian power grabs that Trump tried, whether it’s the Federal Reserve, birthright citizenship, the tariffs, whether he could put National Guard troops in Chicago against the local officials’ interests, the court stood up to Trump and slapped him back down. And the court hates to take on a sitting president, because they don’t want to take on an elected official. Remember, the Roberts courts upheld Obamacare because they just didn’t want to upset what democracy had brought to us. And so, I’d say, on the big authoritarian power grabs, the Supreme Court did pretty good.”
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