President Ronald Reagan once said, “Almost all the world’s constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which ‘We the people’ tell the government what it is allowed to do.”
To keep the power in the hands of the people, our founders divided power among co-equal branches of government: the legislative branch makes the laws, the executive branch carries out the laws, and the judicial branch interprets the laws. Over the years, our government has grown and grown to the point that the balance of power established by our Constitution has become blurry and, well, unbalanced.
The bloated executive branch— made up of all the agencies and departments of government — too often tries to change laws passed by congress or write new laws, which means you lose your voice. When some bureaucrat in Washington writes a new regulation that impacts you, you have no recourse. When Congress passes a law, I’m accountable to you for my vote.
That’s why House Republicans are working to restore self-government and the separation of powers. We have unveiled a bold agenda to tackle our country’s biggest challenges and this is one of the most important parts of the plan. We won’t be able to fix the biggest problems facing our nation unless we have a government that is open, accountable and responsive to the people it serves.
Last week, “we the people” took a strong step forward when the Supreme Court asserted this separation of powers in their ruling in United States v. Texas. I’m pleased the Justices upheld a lower court’s decision that the president’s abuse of executive action to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants is unlawful. This ruling puts this debate to rest and proves what I’ve said all along: when the president bypassed Congress and the American people’s concerns to unilaterally rewrite our nation’s immigration laws and grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, he abused our nation’s separation of powers and the rule of law.
Our founders were clear: the legislative branch makes the laws, the executive branch carries out the laws, and the judicial branch interprets the laws. Regardless of which side of the issue you stand on, we all agree that the President of the United States does not have the legal standing to also act as the legislative and judicial branches. Only Congress has the power to establish the rule of naturalization and make or change the laws. Therefore, it is incumbent on us to honor the Constitution, respect the will of the people, and rein in the president’s actions.
By pursuing illegal executive action, President Obama established a dangerous precedent that threatened our foundation and the stability of our nation. The American people will not stand for unchecked executive abuses. I am committed to working with my colleagues to return the balance of power, defend our Constitutional rights, and restore self-government because our government is meant to work for the people – not the other way around.
U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-Concord, represents North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District, which currently includes Anson County.