So, when President Trump said “We are the federal law” to Maine Governor Janet Mills last week, in a spat that went viral, “What he's saying is ‘my interpretation of the law… is correct, you're wrong. You're going to have to change your tune.’ That, of course, gets to be a complicated question that judges do need to figure out,” added Rudalevige.
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾’s Thomas Brackett Reed Professor of Government was a guest on Maine Public’s weekday radio call-in show Maine Calling this week.
Alongside fellow guests Maine Attorney Aaron Frey and US Senator for Maine Angus King (I), he discussed the issue of presidential power and its limits. It’s a subject Rudalevige is intimately familiar with—his latest book is (Princeton University Press, 2021), but he wrote (University of Michigan Press) two decades ago.
With President Trump signing more than seventy executive orders during his first month in office, many lawsuits have been launched in response, and Rudalevige said this puts the courts in a tough spot. “They need to implement the law as it stands but… without overstepping their own role. Courts really aren't meant to wade into political problems.”
When asked what US Senator Susan Collins could do, Rudalevige said the Maine Republican is well placed to challenge some of Trump’s executive actions. “Collins is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, so if anyone in the Senate has an institutional interest in opposing the president's claim that he can override decisions made by Congress with regards to spending, I would think that she does.”
Rudalevige said he was intrigued, even “baffled,” that Collins voted to confirm Trump nominee Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget. “He's someone who said specifically that he believes the president has the power to impound funds that Congress has authorized—a very expansive view of executive power that would seem inconsistent with Senator Collins's concerns about the Constitution.”
Members of Congress, particularly committee chairs, have a certain amount of leverage, said Rudalevige, and he would like to see more pushback from them against presidential orders. “I expect there is stuff happening behind the scenes that we can't see, but I do think action will speak more loudly than words.” .
