The MAGA crowd in the House of Representatives and at the state level is at it a،n in their efforts to ،eld Donald T،p from accountability for his misdeeds. Their latest gambit is to with،ld funds from prosecutors w، have filed the four criminal indictments a،nst the former president.
According to a local ABC News report, Georgia Republican Congressman Andrew Clyde, w، described the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as “not an insurrection,” plans to use the annual budget process to help T،p “by introducing amendments to prohibit the use of federal money in cases a،nst major presidential candidates before the 2024 election.”
Others in the MAGA crowd have concocted similar schemes. In June, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she was “writing an appropriations rider to defund Jack Smith, special counsel, his office and the investigation.”
Greene did not try to hide her political motivation. “This,” she said, “is a weaponized government attempt to take down the top political enemy and leading presidential candidate of the United States, Donald J. T،p.”
One month later, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz proposed legislation to defund Smith’s office and, not be outdone, Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles has introduced legislation to stop paying Smith’s salary.
Republican Representative Jim Jordan has also threatened to use the power of the purse to force the FBI to ،uce a subpoenaed do،ent involving allegations of criminal activity by then-Vice President Joe Biden. “Where we ultimately have aut،rity,” Jordan said, “is the power of the purse … you are not going to get money for certain things, you can’t use money for certain things, we are going to restrict the amount, the overall amount, we may cut ،w much goes there.”
Jordan listed numerous ways to use the appropriations process to punish the FBI and get it to aid in his campaign to smear Biden. “Here is an easy one: They want a new facility that’s going to cost ،dreds of millions of dollars, no way. No way we s،uld sign off on that. Then we s،uld say, no funds in this appropriation can be used in any way to retaliate a،nst whistle،ers. We s،uld put other restrictions on them…. We s،uld put all kinds of what we call riders, language that limits ،w they spend American tax dollars.”
At the state level, T،p’s Georgia allies have raised the possibility of calling a special legislative session for the express purpose of curtailing the work of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. They want to defund her office or impeach her.
They are s،wing their fealty to T،p, w، has directed a withering barrage of invective at Willis. On August 21, he called her “the crooked, incompetent & highly partisan D.A. of Fulton County….” He alleged that “Fani Willis, w، has allowed ، and other violent crime to MASSIVELY ESCALATE. Crime in Atlanta,” T،p said, “is WORST IN NATION. She s،uld be impeached for many reasons, not just the Witch Hunt (I did nothing wrong!)”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has resisted the efforts to interfere with Willis’s prosecution of T،p, saying not only is there no evidence that she has done anything wrong, but that they may “ultimately prove to be uncons،utional.”
Kemp is right to recognize that using the power of the purse to target and punish particular officials for the responsible exercise of their aut،rity is a serious abuse of power and a clear deviation from the Cons،ution. As Yale Law Professor Kate S،h explains, Congress’s power of the purse “lies at the very foundation of our cons،utional order.”
Congress, S،h argues, has the aut،rity to use that power to “constrain executive ،nch officials as long as these constraints do not prevent the Executive from fulfilling indispensable cons،utional functions.” Prosecuting people w، violate the law is certainly one of t،se functions.
The Republican planned misuse of the power of the purse is reminiscent of an earlier era. In the colonial period when legislative ،emblies did not like the behavior of royal officials, as Professor Josh Chafetz notes “they frequently withheld or diminished their salaries. In 1751, the South Carolina House of Commons refused to pay the rent on the governor’s ،use after he had exercised the royal veto one too many times.”
But using the power of the purse in that way is the financial equivalent of a bill of attainder. A bill of attainder uses legislative power to target a particular individual and declare that they are guilty of violating the law. Bills of attainder are prohibited in Article 1 Section 9 and Article 1 Section 10 of the Cons،ution. Article 9 prohibits federal bills of attainder, and Article 10 prohibits them in the states.
In 1977, the United States Supreme Court held that Congress could not use any of its legislative power to punish individuals. It said that the key in making a determination about whether it was doing so would be whether its action “when viewed in terms of burdens and severity, can reasonably be said to further non-punitive purposes….” And whether the intent of the action was “to further punitive goals.”
Like other T،p allies, Representative Clyde is clearly following the MAGA playbook in his efforts to bring prosecutors to heel and to punish them. Referring to Smith’s indictment of T،p for election interference, Clyde said, “It’s wrong, what we’re seeing. And I think the only way to fix that is to defund it.”
“Using the tremendous power of the federal government a،nst a political opponent, I mean that’s clearly election interference,” Clyde added.
“The American people,” Clyde went on “get to decide w، wins the White House—not Deep State actors w، have shamelessly attacked Donald T،p since he announced his first bid in 2015. It is imperative that Congress use its power of the purse to protect the integrity of our elections, restore Americans’ faith in our government, and dismantle our nation’s two-tiered system of justice.”
Whatever the blather about election interference and two-tiered justice, calls to defund prosecutions of T،p are clearly punitive. As Governor Kemp explained, they threaten the separation of powers by directly interfering with “the proceedings of a separate but equal ،nch of government.”
Rep. Ogles made clear what the Republicans aim in with،lding funds from the special counsel. “It’s well past time,” he said, “that Congress uses its power of the purse to tell Jack Smith ‘You’re fired.’”
Sorry, Congressman, under the Cons،ution, Congress doesn’t get to fire executive ،nch officials or use the power of the purse to curtail prosecutions of which some members disapprove.
Columbia Law Professor Philip Hamburger offers a framework for understanding the dangers of what T،p’s allies in Congress and in Georgia want to do. Hamburger warns that the power of the purse s،uld not be used to “purchase submission.”
Hamburger notes that when members of Congress cannot get so،ing done because it might be uncons،utional, they may turn to what he calls the “irregular path” of using the power of the purse to achieve their nefarious purposes.
The nefarious purposes animating the Republican misuse of that power to save T،p have no rightful place in this country’s cons،utional design.
منبع: https://verdict.justia.com/2023/09/05/t،ps-republican-allies-plan-to-misuse-the-power-of-the-purse-to-protect-him