Republican legislators, who purport to revere the Constitution and tradition and the balance of power, would take great offense if President Biden ran roughshod over a duly passed law. Now that President Trump has done just that, they shouldn’t take it lying down.
Friday night, Trump summarily axed 18 of the federal government’s 73 inspectors general, yanking 13 IGs out of 15 at Cabinet-level departments. These are the independent watchdogs charged with flagging inefficiency, fraud and other shenanigans.
Some were appointed by Biden, some by Trump, there was even at least one appointed by George W. Bush. We don’t why they were all sacked. Maybe the IGs weren’t deemed sufficiently loyal to him, including ones he appointed.
But that’s not the only problem with the purge: Federal law passed by Congress and signed by the president in 2023 requires the nation’s chief executive to give Congress 30 days’ notice before he removes an IG. Trump didn’t give that, which means his action is almost certainly illegal.
That new statute was authored by Chuck Grassley, a Republican. And Grassley at least has co-signed a letter stating in no uncertain terms that the law of the land requires “that the President ‘shall’ communicate to Congress in writing 30 days before removing or transferring an IG from office the ‘substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons’ for the removal or transfer.”
The letter continues: “While IGs aren’t immune from committing acts requiring their removal, and they can be removed by the president, the law must be followed. The communication to Congress must contain more than just broad and vague statements, rather it must include sufficient facts and details to assure Congress and the public that the termination is due to real concerns about the Inspector General’s ability to carry out their mission.”
It isn’t enough that Trump broke the law and doesn’t seem to care. It’s that rather than defend their prerogatives as outlined in Article I of the U.S. Constitution, most Republican members of Congress are mumbling and fumbling, their principles having been twisted into pretzels because of their fealty to the president.
A perfect example is Sen. Lindsey Graham, who Sunday conceded, “Yeah, he should have done that” — meaning told Congress — before changing the subject to say “What do you expect him to do? Just leave everybody in place in Washington before he got elected?”
Straw men are fun to create, easy to knock down. Nobody expects Trump to keep in place Biden’s chief of staff, or his Cabinet secretaries, or for that matter anyone with any real policymaking power who reports to him in the executive branch. Presidents have tons of power, consistent with the Constitution and the laws subsidiary to it. But where a statute specifically prescribes special protections or procedures, is the duty of the executive to follow it.
One doesn’t need a refresher in high school civics to understand that the legislative branch writes the laws and the executive executes them. They can dispute what various laws mean in court, but this one was as clear as they come.
Trump broke a law. Most Republicans in Congress blinked. Deepest shame on them for the weakness they showed and the precedent they set for what looks likely to be a lawless four years.
