Retired Supreme Court Justice: Trump 'exercising powers that do not really belong to him'

[babylonsister]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/05/10/politics/john-paul-stevens-wsj-trump/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2s04QNgT8z6hjj74TtiGD53SFbQ3DlUOSSl5V2t6MTSNcBD40_81vItbk


Retired Supreme Court Justice: Trump 'exercising powers that do not really belong to him'
By Caroline Kelly
Updated 7:13 PM EDT, Fri May 10, 2019


(CNN) Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens accused President Donald Trump of exceeding his presidential powers in an interview published Thursday, telling The Wall Street Journal that the President "has to comply with subpoenas."

Stevens' remarks come as the court battle over Trump's financial records ramps up, with Judge Amit Mehta overseeing the first hearing in the standoff between the Democrat-led House Oversight Committee and the President next week. The committee has subpoenaed Trump's long-standing accounting firm Mazars USA for several years' worth of the President's financial statements, and the President has sued the committee and Mazars to block the firm from complying.

Asked about the modern political landscape, Stevens told the Journal, "I think there are things we should be concerned about, there's no doubt about that."

"The President is exercising powers that do not really belong to him," Stevens added. "I mean, he has to comply with subpoenas and things like that."

As to how the Supreme Court would handle a case between Trump and the Democrat-led House of Representatives, Stevens told the paper, "I wouldn't want to predict that anybody's going to take the incorrect view. But certainly, the correct view is pretty clear."

Stevens, who served on the Supreme Court from his appointment by President Gerald Ford in 1975 until his retirement in 2010, is a lifelong Republican whose rulings often leaned left. He wrote the dissenting opinion in Bush v. Gore in 2000 and the majority opinion in Rasul et al v. Bush in 2010 deciding that detainees at Guantanamo must have a court-martial.

Stevens has weighed in on current political events since his retirement, suggesting in October that then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh should not sit on the court. Stevens' op-ed in the New York Times last year encouraging gun control advocates to try to repeal the Second Amendment prompted Trump to respond on Twitter, "NO WAY."

[joe_stampingbull]

1. In a normal time

any president who acts in such a lawless manner such as Trump would have already been impeached and convicted.

[ginnyinWI]

6. a normal president would have sense enough not to dare. nt

[LakeArenal]

2. "Lifelong Republican that leaned left"

Is that what we call impartiality now?

[honest.abe]

3. I suspect that is how most of the current SCOTUS justices also feel.

Which gives me hope that this will end well.. eventually.

[Timmygoat]

4. When this nightmare ends

And Trump is out of office, what are the republican senators like Lindsay Graham and the other enablers going to do. They know they have done wrong, I do not see how they can run for office again.

[Ferrets are Cool]

5. A dictator has to do NOTHING unless he wants to do it...

especially when he is backed by a Senatorial militia.

[ginnyinWI]

7. I'd like to shake them and say, "Wake Up! Look what is happening!" nt

[LuvNewcastle]

8. The President has too much power.

I don't think the Founders, certainly not Washington, would be pleased with how that office has evolved. Presidents aren't supposed to be emperors, but over the years they have increasingly ignored Congress with little consequence. I guess the job is particularly alluring to someone with evil intentions, like Trump. As we are seeing, a person can do a hell of a lot of damage with that power before he's finally reined in.

[moondust]

9. "Executive Privilege" is now a magic wand.

Its powers know no bounds - like the hand of God.