Democrat establishment players like Rep. Jamie Raskin are scrambling to find ways to prevent former President Donald Trump from using his power should he win the 2024 election this November.
Raskin is now conspiring with Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) and a bipartisan coalition in a push to get lawmakers to sign on to a “No Dictators Declaration,” which aims to rein in the powers of the Oval Office, specifically following the Supreme Court’s decision to grant Trump broad immunity from prosecution.
During a press conference on Monday, Raskin emphasized the role of Congress in protecting “constitutional freedoms.”
“It is up to Congress, the representative branch of the people, to defend the constitutional order against presidents who would trample the freedoms of the people,” Raskin said.
Raskin added:
“This declaration is about protecting the freedoms of the people by closing statutory loopholes that could allow a president to exploit the executive power to trample constitutional freedom and liberty.”
The Supreme Court case involving the former president was an effort by Special Counsel Jack Smith to challenge Trump and his team’s actions.
The Supreme Court affirmed in July that former Presidents are largely shielded from criminal prosecution, recognizing executives’ immunity from prosecution for actions within their core constitutional duties.
The Court’s conservative majority also recognized the broad protections necessary for a president, tasking lower courts with clarifying these protections.
However, Smith responded to the ruling by updating the indictment against Trump, despite the Supreme Court’s clear mandate safeguarding presidents from partisan legal challenges.
“It’s got five main pillars to it – one, limiting the president’s power to declare bogus domestic and foreign emergencies to seize power and bypass congressional authority,” Raskin said of the legislation.
“Two, restricting the president’s ability to use the Insurrection Act to deploy the military domestically against the people,” he added,
“Three – preventing the adoption of partisan, personal and ideological loyalty tests, loyalty oaths and similar authoritarian measures designed to purge the professional civil service, and replace qualified workers with unqualified party loyalists and sycophants.”
“Four, ensuring that presidents who abuse their powers to commit crimes can be prosecuted like all other citizens.”
“Because no one is above the law in America, and those of us who aspire and attain to public office are nothing but the servants of the people.”
Raskin concluded:
“And fifth, constraining the president’s ability to use investigative and prosecutorial decisions and resources to pursue personal political vendettas against disfavored groups and perceived enemies of the president.”
The declaration seeks to impose new restrictions on a president’s ability to use military force or declare national emergencies.
But Trump supporters argue that the Supreme Court’s ruling is a critical step in protecting the presidency from political attacks and the weaponization against the former president.
“I hope that when we get back in, that we will be able to have at least a couple of serious hearings about the problem of overreach in the executive branch and weakness to potential tyrants and despots and dictators,” Raskin told Fox News.
“I hope that those hearings would lead us to create a legislative package to address these structural deficiencies in our statutory system. I would hope that Republicans would come along.”
