A weakling Congress is in its dying days

There are less than five months left in the life of the 119th Congress. We should not mourn its passing. Under Republican control, it has ceased to function as a co-equal branch of government. We can criticize its lack of productivity and disagree with its politics, but it will be remembered for letting the other two branches of government steal its power.

Congress has a crucial role in preventing excesses of the executive and judicial branches. However, the 119th has not defended itself or the country against President Trump’s autocratic impulses. And by surrendering its power, it left a vacuum into which the judiciary has moved.

With Trump’s approval rate tanking, a few Republicans are now exhibiting some independence from the president. It is too little and too late. Congress’s subservience has allowed Trump to do extraordinary damage to the integrity of government, the public’s trust in it, the rule of law and the nation’s international relations.

The U.S. Supreme Court has rushed into the void. A recent analysis concluded that the conservative court has increasingly intervened in the legislative branch’s jurisdiction and “position(ed) the judiciary as America’s primary policymaking body, a role the founders never intended for the courts.”

Lower courts have become the last line of defense in preventing Trump’s overreach. By one count, the victims of Trump’s excesses have challenged him in more than 850 lawsuits. So far, over 150 decisions have blocked or ruled against the administration’s actions. Federal judges and their families across the country are harassed and receiving death threats after ruling against Trump in politically charged cases.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Justice, led........

© The Hill