Court tells Trump he does not own the White House
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In a
35-page opinion, Judge Leon — an appointee of Republican President George
W. Bush — wrote that Trump likely did not have the authority to make changes to
the White House that could endure for generations, without consulting Congress.
This marks, by my calculation, the 89th time since the start
of Trump’s second term that a federal judge has ruled that he cannot simply do
whatever he wants; his actions must be authorized by Congress.
Focus for a moment on the word authorized. It’s
from the Latin auctoritas and auctor — to
originate, the originator.
In our system of government, a president is not the
originator of power. Power comes from the people. And among the three branches
of government, the people are most clearly represented by Congress. This was
the founders’ design in the Constitution, which is why the very first article
enumerates Congress’s powers.
In December, the National Trust sued Trump after he razed
the East Wing (originally constructed in 1902 and expanded during Franklin
Roosevelt’s presidency) to make way for what Trump says will be the “finest”
ballroom in the country.
As designed, that ballroom is larger than the Executive
Residence and the West Wing combined. If constructed, it would be the dominant
edifice of the White House — symbolically shifting its focus from where the
president works and lives to where a president might lavishly entertain, as in
a king’s throne room.
Trump has repeatedly emphasized that his ballroom is funded entirely by private donors, so its cost won’t be borne by taxpayers and it doesn’t need a congressional appropriation. He says he’s raised more than $350 million from personal backers and around two dozen tech, cryptocurrency, and defense corporations to fund the structure without government support.
Translated: He’s extorted $350 million from monied interests
eager to suck up to him.
But Judge Leon insists this doesn’t give Trump authority to
destroy part of the White House and erect a giant ballroom in its place: “No
statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have.”
Judge Leon adds: “The President of the United States is the
steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not,
however, the owner!” [exclamation included]
The idea that Trump is the steward of anything for
future generations rather than an owner must seem odd to Trump. I doubt that
the former real-estate developer has ever once thought of the presidency as a
stewardship.
Which is why the notion that he’s not authorized to
do whatever he wants — raze the White House for a grand ballroom, deploy ICE
and Border Patrol agents to terrorize immigrants and murder Americans trying to
protect them, attack Iran — is inconceivable to him.
In his first public reaction to the court order, Trump
called the National Trust “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics” that’s suing him
for a “ballroom that is under budget, ahead of schedule, being built at no cost
to the Taxpayer, and will be the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the
World.”
To real-estate developer Trump, all that matters is being
under budget, ahead of schedule, and at no cost to taxpayers. Even if he
demolishes the entire White House and erects a Trump Tower in its place. Even
if he extorts every CEO in America to pay for it. Even if he erects a giant
arch across the Potomac with his name emblazoned on it.
But the people have not authorized him to
do any of this. Which means — as long as we have an independent federal
judiciary, and any hope for a Congress that will stand up to him — he cannot.
