BRATTLEBORO-Recently, a majority of the Supreme Court justices expressed great skepticism about President Trump's executive overreach in his burgeoning tariff regime.
While challenging the solicitor general's justification of Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs, Justice Gorsuch likened the president's illegal use of tariff authority to the illegal action of declaring war.
Gorsuch pointed out not only that the president cannot declare war without the consent of Congress, the Constitution also does not even allow Congress to delegate that power to the president.
But for decades now, Congress has, without specifically delegating its war powers to several presidents, totally abdicated those responsibilities. As Justice Gorsuch suggests, that (in)action by Congress is both illegal and unconstitutional.
After Oct. 7, 2023, Congress' failure to insist on its war powers permitted the Biden administration to avoid condemning American participation in the Israeli genocide in Gaza. And now the Trump administration is participating not only in Israeli war crimes but in war crimes in international waters in the Caribbean and threatening to invade Venezuela. This abdication of Congressional power is illegal, unconstitutional ... and shameful.
We in Vermont are proud that our senators have spoken out against the genocide in Gaza, but now that even conservative justices on the Supreme Court are pushing back against Trump's executive overreach, it is incumbent upon us that we push Sens. Welch and Sanders to stand strong against this limitless encroachment on the prerogatives of Congress in all matters.
I urge you to call our senators, demanding that they use every tool they have - the Foreign Assistance Act, the Leahy Laws, and the War Powers Resolution - to stop the metastasis of lawlessness by the Trump administration.
It's the least we can do. As Desmond Tutu said, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." That applies to the U.S. Congress... and to all of us.
Steve Wangh
Brattleboro
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