With the Trump administration’s “belligerence” toward the courts, Ellison said he’s worried the world’s longest-established democracy could be thrust into a Constitutional crisis by summer. The nation isn’t there yet, Ellison said, but U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Robert’s rebuke of Trump’s calls to impeach a judge who ruled against his deportation plans was stark.
Wurman said the standoff between Trump and the courts over deportations was “too close for comfort” to a conflict between the two branches. But he said the country was not approaching a constitutional crisis — at least not yet.
At town halls across the state, Ellison said he gets asked routinely — what if Trump defies court orders?
He said nobody likes the answer.
“The answer is: The American people are the people who guarantee American democracy, and the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
“I recognize the limitations of American law,” Ellison said, “and I recognize that American judiciary exists as a force for protecting American democracy because people still have some semblance of recognizing it as legitimate authority. But when it runs out, the American people are going to have to rise up and say, ‘This is our country and we’re going to keep it this way.’”
