Washington Update - January 27, 2025

Billy Moore    Dc2

Donald Trump began his second term as President on Monday, delivering an inaugural address mirroring his campaign speeches. He focused blame on outgoing President Joe Biden while declaring a new “golden age” for America. His first week of action, demonstrating a level of planning and competence not evident 8 years ago, focused on asserting presidential power.

Many of President Trump’s executive orders are popular with voters and Congress and are within traditional legal parameters. Others defy the law, such as his order to not enforce a law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or go dark. Another, declaring the 14th Amendment to the Constitution’s right of citizenship void for persons whose parents are not citizens or permanent residents, defies the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution (the order was temporarily blocked by a U.S. District Court judge).

Taken together, his orders represent a plan to erode power from the other branches of the government and enhance the power of the White House, reducing congressional authority to make laws and weakening the role of the Supreme Court to interpret them.

The three branches of government regularly compete to determine who has decision-making superiority. President Trump’s efforts to expand presidential authority may take effect without resistance from the legislative or judicial branches, given their partisan inclinations – or they may engender constitutional conflicts with unpredictable results.

How the other branches respond will foretell future struggles over authority, including Congress’ power of the purse over spending and the Senate’s power of advice and consent. The struggle over the Supreme Court’s authority will take longer to resolve.

The President’s bold assertion of executive power power is contrasted with his indecision about how to pursue his legislative agenda. He has reached no resolution with Republican congressional leaders about a strategy to pass pressing priorities on taxes, spending, or the national debt.