Behind the Curtain: Unprecedented new precedents
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Through silence or vocal support, House and Senate Republicans are backing an extraordinary set of new precedents for presidential power they may come to regret if and when Democrats seize those same powers.
Why it matters: New precedents are exhilarating when you're in power — and excruciating when you're not.
Here are 10 new precedents, all set with minimal GOP dissent:
- Presidents can limit the classified information they share with lawmakers after bombing a foreign country without the approval of Congress.
- Presidents can usurp Congress's power to levy tariffs, provided they declare a national emergency.
- Presidents can unilaterally freeze spending approved by Congress, and dismantle or fire the heads of independent agencies established by law.
- Presidents can take control of a state's National Guard, even if the governor opposes it, and occupy the state for as long as said president wants.
- Presidents can accept gifts from foreign nations, as large as a $200 million plane, even if it's unclear whether said president gets to keep the plane at the end of the term.
- Presidents can actively profit from their time in office, including creating new currencies structured to allow foreign nationals to invest anonymously, benefiting said president.
- Presidents can try to browbeat the Federal Reserve into cutting interest rates, including by floating replacements for the Fed chair before their term is up.
- Presidents can direct the Justice Department to prosecute their political opponents and punish critics. These punishments can include stripping Secret Service protections, suing them and threatening imprisonment.
- Presidents can punish media companies, law firms and universities that don't share their viewpoints or values.
- Presidents can aggressively pardon supporters, including those who made large political donations as part of their bid for freedom. The strength of the case in said pardons is irrelevant.
Between the lines: Friday's Supreme Court ruling limiting nationwide injunctions — a decision widely celebrated by Republicans — underscores the risks of partisan precedent-setting.
- Conservatives sped to the courts to block many of President Biden's signature policies — and succeeded.
But taking those broad injunctions off the table now means they'll also be unavailable the next time a Democratic president pushes an aggressive agenda.
- That future president will be able to keep implementing even legally shaky policies — just as Trump now can.
What to watch: Trump previewed some of those policies at a celebratory press conference on Friday, saying the Supreme Court's ruling cleared the way for executive actions that had been "wrongly enjoined on a nationwide basis."
- They include ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, terminating funding for "sanctuary cities," suspending refugee resettlement, and blocking the use of federal funds for gender-affirming care.
Axios Zachary Basu contributed reporting.
- Go deeper ... "Behind the Curtain: The art of persuading Trump."
