#checksandbalances

Miguel Afonso Caetanoremixtures@tldr.nettime.org
2025-10-08

"We recently returned to our group with a new survey and follow-up interviews about Trump’s impact on the rule of law since retaking office. The responses captured almost universal fear and anguish over the transformation of the Justice Department into a tool of the White House. Just as chillingly, the new survey reflects near consensus that most of the guardrails inside and outside the Justice Department, which in the past counterbalanced executive power, have all but fallen away. The indictment of James Comey, the former F.B.I. director whom Trump ordered the Justice Department to charge, represents a misuse of power for many of our respondents that they hoped never to see in the United States.

These respondents include former attorneys general, solicitors general and their deputies in the Justice Department and White House counsels, as well as former U.S. attorneys and retired federal judges from across the country. (Forty-two people who took the survey last year did so again, and we added eight more to replace those who did not. The group is again evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.) Some of the former officials we surveyed, in both parties, are speaking out against the wrongs they see unfolding despite the professional and personal risks.

But many of them — more so than last year — don’t want to speak on the record. These are people with stature in their world, custodians of the American Bar who have represented clients of all stripes, taught law students, served on professional committees. But now they’re worried about retribution, for their law firms or their family members, if they draw Trump’s ire.

Our new survey channeled their collectively grim state of mind. All but one of the respondents rated Trump’s second term as a greater or much greater threat to the rule of law than his first term."

nytimes.com/2025/10/06/magazin

#USA #Trump #Authoritarianism #Democracy #RuleOfLaw #ChecksAndBalances

Linda Sgoluppi Artistlindasgoluppiart@mastodonapp.uk
2025-10-04

Laws must be made transparently, with oversight and accountability. Independent courts, strong legislatures, and clear separation of powers prevent abuse, protect rights, and ensure that no branch or individual can override the will of the people.

#RuleOfLaw #ChecksAndBalances #fediverse #mastodon

2025-09-29

But #RussVought had something #Musk did not: He had done his homework.
In the months since Musk fell out with #Trump, Vought has at last begun to put his plans into action—remaking the presidency, block by block, by restoring powers weakened after the #Nixon admin. His efforts are helping Trump exert #authority more aggressively than any modern president, & are threatening an erosion of the longstanding #ChecksAndBalances in America’s constitutional system.

#Project2025 #law #democracy #fascism

2025-09-29

The Man Behind #Trump’s Push for an All-Powerful Presidency

Russell T. Vought spent years drawing up plans to expand presidential #power & shrink federal bureaucracy. Now he is moving closer to making that vision a reality, threatening to erode #ChecksAndBalances.

#RussVought #Project2025 #law #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny
nytimes.com/2025/09/29/us/poli

2025-09-29

"The Man Behind Trump’s Push for an All-Powerful Presidency"

"Russell T. Vought spent years drawing up plans to expand presidential power and shrink federal bureaucracy. Now he is moving closer to making that vision a reality, threatening to erode checks and balances."

#USPol #USpolitics #OMB #RussellVought #Congress #PowerofthePurse #ChecksandBalances

nytimes.com/video/us/politics/

2025-09-28

Lees tip -> Column: Het gevaar van wegwuiven wat je niet zint | Caroline van der Plas noemt de Raad van State een “linkse kliek” die afgeschaft moet worden. Feiten tonen echter dat dit onafhankelijke orgaan wetten toetst en burgers beschermt tegen overheidsbesluiten. | #BBB #CarolinevanderPlas #checksandbalances #democratie #kritiekopinstituties #linksekliek #onafhankelijkheid #populisme #raadvanstate #rechtsstaat #stiksto

hbpmedia.nl/column-het-gevaar-

Kevin Karhan :verified:kkarhan@infosec.space
2025-09-18

Also givent the accuracy of your post (which I have no reason to question to be accurate), #Trump made it de-facto #illegal for any law- and constitution-abiding citizen or even resident of #Germany to enter the #USA as #antifascism is the core foundation of it's #FreeAndDemocraticSocialOrder.

At this point I hope @Bundesregierung and @AuswaertigesAmt are aware of this #fact and advise everyone from ever entering the #US by any means because it's as incompatible with the tennants of the constitution as entering #Afghanistan (or prior to that: #Daesh-controlled territory)...

@stman @50htz @vidak @theruran @oceane @gorekhaa

2025-08-27

"In tossing out (one of Trump's) lawsuits, U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen — an appointee of Donald Trump — lamented what he described as the White House’s months-long smear of the federal judiciary":
politico.com/news/2025/08/26/t

WIST Quotationswist@my-place.social
2025-08-18

A quotation from Wendell Berry

It is impossible to think that constitutional government can be suspended in a time of danger, in deference to the greater “efficiency” of centralized power, and then easily or quickly restored. Efficiency may be a political virtue, but only if strictly limited. Our Constitution, by its separation of powers and its system of checks and balances, acts as a restraint upon efficiency by denying exclusive power to any branch of government. The logic of governmental efficiency, unchecked, runs straight on, not only to dictatorship, but also to torture, assassination, and other abominations.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (2003-02-09), “A Citizen’s Response,” sec. 3, Citizenship Papers (2003)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/berry-wendell/17687/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #wendellberry #checksandbalances #Constitution #efficiency #government #inefficiency #power #separationofpowers #tyranny

2025-08-12

In interviews, several #FederalWorkers lamented the curtailing of #union activities — tying it to a broader erosion of #ChecksAndBalances in American #democracy — & predicted additional agreement cancellations would follow. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

The loss of union protections is “just another way to make life miserable for the employees who are left,” said a #FEMA staff member.

#Trump #law #LaborLaw #contracts #CollectiveBargaining #FederalAgencies

Real Montanian 🌊🤠❄️👢realmontanian.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy
2025-08-06

8 Only a dictator and the party that supports one attack #democracy, #RuleOfLaw, #liberty, the #Constitution and #ChecksAndBalances

WIST Quotationswist@my-place.social
2025-07-28

A quotation from John Adams

The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people and every blessing of society, depends so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice, that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, as both should be checks upon that.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1776-04) to George Wythe, “Thoughts on Government”

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/adams-john/78058/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #checksandbalances #government #judges #judiciary #justice #separationofpowers

2025-07-22

Judge blocks Trump’s “at-will” firing of Democratic FTC Commissioner Slaughter, ruling it unlawful and protecting independent agency oversight. Executive overreach denied. #FTC #RuleOfLaw #ChecksAndBalances www.venable.com/insights/pub...

2025-06-28

The #Senate on Friday rejected a #Democratic measure that would have forced #Trump to go to #Congress for approval of another #military strike against #Iran [he was supposed to for the first]. The resolution had little chance of succeeding in a #Republican-controlled & Trump lick-spittle Congress.

#Constitution #law #SeparationOfPowers #ChecksAndBalances #ExecutiveAuthority #AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism #dictatorship #tyranny #AmericanAutocracy
nytimes.com/2025/06/27/us/poli

2025-06-26

#DEI must change. Free speech serves as a check on power, holding governments and institutions accountable and preventing abuses of authority. #Accountability #ChecksAndBalances

WIST Quotationswist@my-place.social
2025-06-23

A quotation from John Adams

There is Danger from all Men. The only Maxim of a free Government, ought to be to trust no Man living, with Power to endanger the public Liberty.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Diary (1772, Spring), “Notes for a Oration at Braintree”

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/adams-john/6021/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #absolutepower #checksandbalances #corruption #freedom #government #humannature #liberty #politics #power #tyranny

Dimitri Dhuyvetterdhuyvetter
2025-06-15

The Trump/Musk fight is why we say "No Kings"
The protests are about reestablishing a government of laws, not unaccountable oligarchs
open.substack.com/pub/aaronrup

2025-06-13

»Der Präsident ist in seiner Macht begrenzt. Das unterscheidet eine verfassungsgebundene Regierung von einer Monarchie.« Flehentlich anmutende Aussage eines Richters, der den Einsatz der Nationalgarde durch #Trump in L.A. für illegal eingestuft hat.
#ChecksAndBalances🕯️⚰️🪦
spiegel.de/ausland/los-angeles

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