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Separation of powers

The COVID national state of emergency finally ended this week. Although the state of emergency was declared by executive order, the Biden Administration had refused to terminate the order, absurdly arguing that COVID still represents a national emergency. In response to the administration’s insistence on keeping the emergency order in place, Congress passed a law immediately terminating the order. President Biden initially indicated he would veto the measure, but ultimately relented and signed the bill. If you can get past how ridiculous it is to still be under a state of emergency, this activity represents a win for separation of powers. Congressional action, even bipartisan in this instance, won out over executive action. Hopefully, this will encourage even more decision-making through Congress, and less by executive action and agency fiat.

More separation of powers

While we are on the topic of the COVID emergency, the law to terminate the COVID executive order has implications for another overreach by the executive branch, the Biden Administration’s student loan forgiveness order. It was already a dubious proposition whether the President has authority to unilaterally forgive federal student loans. However, the President’s argument was that he had the power to forgive student loans under the COVID emergency rules. Now that the COVID emergency has been terminated, that flimsy justification for student loan forgiveness disappears. The student loan forgiveness case is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. It was already expected to go against the Administration. This action likely gaurantees that. Click here to listen to a short audio clip on the subject.

Even more separation of powers

This week, a Federal District Judge in Texas, Matthew Kacsmaryk, issued an opinion finding that the FDA improperly approved mifepristone, a chemical abortion drug. If upheld, the Judge’s ruling would prevent the distribution of the drug. The Judge stayed the implementation of the ruling for seven days to give time for the parties to seek review from the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling was immediatly met with scorn from the left. Prominent politicians such as U.S. Congresswoman Alexadria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Senator Ron Wyden called on the FDA to ignore the ruling and continue to provide the drug, whether the ruling was upheld or not. Regardless of how you feel about the political issues involved, we should all condemn the call to ignore court rulings, which is effectively a demand for either tyranny or mob rule. If you believe the ruling is legally wrong, then appeal. Judge Kacsmaryk laid out a process for it. If you believe the ruling is politically incorrect, then advocate in the legislative branch for the passage of a law. Our Constitution was wisely and purposefully designed to prevent what Ocasio-Cortez and Wyden seek.