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SamuelPittmanFirstPaper 1 - 08 Apr 2025 - Main.SamuelPittman
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Checks and Balances in a Time of Constitutional Crisis
-- By SamuelPittman - 08 Apr 2025
No Clear Definition
The 2024 Presidential Election of Donald Trump had foreseeable consequences. However, the moment we find ourselves in (as a society post-election) is much different than before. Some have indicated the United States is entering a constitutional crisis.
However, there is not set definition of “constitutional crisis.” Moreover, consensus is lacking around conceptualizing “when” the United States enters a constitutional crisis. With no clear definition, it is worth taking a step back to understand identify the foundational tension surrounding the first three months of the Trump administration.
This essay argues the Trump administration has sought to defy the fundamental elements of the rule of law. Yet, this essay considers the phase “constitutional crisis” as an inadequate description of the turbulence, defiance, and hostility the Trump administration has displayed since Inauguration Day. Lastly, this essay aims to explore whether achieving a proper check on the executive branch is feasible as the United States looks ahead.
Unchecked Power
A starting point to distinguish the present moment from the past (though not entirely) is examining unchecked power of the Trump administration.
The Trump administration has reshaped the federal government. However, achieving this end has required a distinguishing factor – loyalty. President Trump has essentially surround himself with far-right extremist, curators of Project 2025, and selects cabinet members based on the criteria of loyalty alone. When loyal becomes a litmus test, the ring of the preamble and the meaning of “We the People of the United States” becomes fractured. A government structured around loyalty to an individual cannot result in promotion of the general welfare of the people.
What has transpired from unchecked power has been a devastating blow to the middle class, immigrant communities, vulnerable retirement eligible seniors, government workers, Diversity Equity & Inclusion initiatives, and attacks on transgender and gender nonconforming individuals.
Institutions such as the Department of Education, the Department of Health, and USAID have been nearly eradicated. What remains of the Foreign Assistance website is an archive which has not been updated since March 7, 2025.
At every turn, the Trump administration has aimed to gut federal agencies (without regard to consequences), place federal workers in a vulnerable position by terminating their employment without notice, attack entities that the administration considers adversarial, and push to mobilize DHS & ICE to act without check on their authority.
Unchecked power is now the norm in the U.S. federal government. A GOP-majority backed Congress is largely being bypassed by the Executive Branch and replaced with Executive Orders. The pace at which an erosion of checks and balances has occurred is intention – a core tension.
Tension in Function, Petrification of Co-Equal Branches
Re-centering the conversation back to semantics. A constitutional crisis might involve the challenging on existing legal norms. Executive Orders have turned into an assumption of powers historically vested in Congress – the power of the purse, the power to tax, the power to regulate commerce, and making laws.
The moment we have arrived has included all the above, but it has also encompassed more. A degree of petrification has also occurred. Congress seems unwilling and increasingly unable to move. An attempt to end birthright citizenship, dismantling federal agencies created by Congress, and imposing excessive tariffs have been met with the same reaction from Congress – silence. While this is not shocking, it is alarming.
Federal courts are no stranger to the chaos we are experiencing. Federal appeals courts are being stretched to the limit by the Trump administration. A memo issued by the Attorney General is seeking to target lawyers and law firms that engage in actions that violate the laws of the U.S. or rules governing attorney conduct. The memo alleges examples of grossly unethical misconduct by individuals involved in the past prosecution of President Trump.
The landscape of issues impact by the disarray of cases on appeal is notable. From deportation to student borrowing – early executive actions remain pending, but for how much longer?
A Constitutional Crisis in the United States
Everything about the current moment defies norms. We are in a constitutional crisis, but something greater looms over the unchecked power of the Trump administration.
The middle class is becoming extinct, and the purchasing power of wages is weakened as wealth becomes increasingly aggregated. Immigrant communities are being targeted. Neighborhood churches (like mine) which host bi-lingual services no longer have full pews because people are afraid their families will be altered by one encounter with DHS.
Columbia University has found itself in the middle of the national. The learning process for students has become increasingly difficult. Moments of community bring us together in times of hardship, and this remains the same.
In a semester where the University has endured three Presidents, this is not my most articulate (or organized) essay on the current state of our nation. My feelings remain the same. The Law School has a role in doing the hard part – finding a solution to the current situation. The turbulence of the semester impacts us all differently. It certainly has impacted my ability to learn and grapple with the world around me.
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