SEN. FEINGOLD: But it is possible under your construct that an inherent constitutional power of the president could, under some analysis or in some case, override what people believe to be a constitutional criminal statute. Is that correct?
JUDGE ALITO: Well, I don't want to—I don't—I want to be very precise on this. What I have said—and I don't think I can go further than to say this—is that that situation seems to be exactly what is to fall exactly within that category that Justice Jackson outlined, where the president is claiming the authority to do something, and the thing that he is claiming the authority to do is explicitly—has been explicitly disapproved by Congress. So his own taxonomy contemplates the possibility that—he says that there—this—there is this category, and cases can fall in this category, and he seems to contemplate the possibility that that might be justified.
But I'm not—I don't want to even say that there could be such a case. I don't know. I would have to be presented with the facts of the particular case and consider it in a way I would consider any legal question. I don't think I can go beyond that.
This should of been a slam-duck answer for Alito. There is nothing in the Constitution stating the President's power can override the law.
Except the constitution itself. There was considerable debate during 2000 about what the second amendment says and means. I take the meaning to say that each individual person is allowed to have a firearm for whatever purpose they choose. This was affirmed by the executive and the judiciary in the last hundred years and recently in the last five years.
ReplyDeleteOn presidential powers during way, I agree, it depends if one sees us at war. That is the bottom line.
I think the second amendment is safe. Guns aren't being taken away from people. That was tried with alcohol and that certainly didn't work.
ReplyDeleteI don't see the Constitution allowing a President to break the law. Nixon and Clinton got into trouble for that. The Constitution was made to protect the people from the abuse of power. The Republic is more important than the President.