By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host
Yet, here we are, with the courts acting in ways that is frankly none of their business.
DACA: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Trump administration’s appeal of a federal judge’s ruling that requires the government to keep the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program going.
According to the ruling of a lower court, the Department of Homeland Security must continue to accept renewal applications from the roughly 700,000 young people who are currently enrolled in the program, known as DACA. The administration had intended to shut the program down by March 5.
Why is it the courts are involved in the first place? DACA was put into place by executive order, an unconstitutional means of establishing the program. According to Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, all legislative powers belongs to Congress. How is it that Obama was able to put DACA in place through an executive order without legislative authority?
The court system’s overreach is not only happening at the federal level. At the State level, for example, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has told the State legislature that the Gerrymandered map that has been in place in that State is unacceptable, so the court issued its own congressional map to replace the old one. The GOP had an advantage, it has been assumed, under the old map, so the leftist judges have offered their new map to make it more fair.
The problem is, according to the United States Constitution, Article I, Section 4, “The Times, Places and Manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.”