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Here’s the law: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7521/text/rfs https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7521... No, Trump
by ttul 2y ago
Here’s the law: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7521/text/rfs https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7521...
No, Trump can’t legally postpone or give reprieve to TikTok. The time has passed for that.
Once Congress has enacted a statute and the President has signed it into law, the executive branch must enforce it. An executive order cannot override or suspend a duly passed law unless Congress included an explicit waiver or suspension provision in that law. Nothing in the text of this act appears to grant the President such discretion, so there is no straightforward way for the President to “undo” or pause the ban by executive order. The only way to alter or lift the ban would be through new legislation or a valid constitutional challenge in court.
That seems unlikely considering the Supreme Court already rules on the matter.
- sjs382 2y agoThe executive branch is responsible for enforcement of laws. He could just choose not to enforce it, no?
- Spivak 2y agoI think replies to this will be one of two: * Legally the executive is not granted this power. * But in practice they are because who's going to make them? The entity responsible for enforcement always has this power. It's why DA races where the platform is essentially law nullification by way of non-enforcement have been happening for some light criminal justice reform that can't get through the legislature.
- lumost 2y agoHistorically it would have been congress or the Supreme Court. The issue is that no one seriously expects them to do anything against trump.
- tsimionescu 2y agoThe executive branch has a clear history of selectively not enforcing laws, so there is clear precedent. The most notable recent example is that the last three presidents have all chosen to not enforce federal law on marijuana in states that have chosen to legalize it.
- _heimdall 2y agoThat is a somewhat different scenario as the battle over marijuana laws would boil down to a state's rights issue. Many states have claimed authority over deciding whether marijuana is legal, effectively claiming that the federal government doesn't have jurisdiction on the issue.
- tsimionescu 2y agoThat doesn't change the fact that the president has instructed the DoJ to not enforce a federal law passed legally by Congress.
- _heimdall 2y agoSure, I'm not arguing that. The context is just different enough to be important in my opinion.
- energy123 2y agoWhy would Apple or Google want to take the risk? They are not TikTok, they don't stand to lose hundreds of billions of dollars of value.
- alt227 2y agoBecause they want to appease the new President.
- bobtheborg 2y agoThat's not the law that passed. The law that passed is https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/815 https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/815 (lengthy law -- see DIVISION H—PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM FOREIGN ADVERSARY CONTROLLED APPLICATIONS ACT), page 62 in the PDF. Also, both the House and the Senate have pending legislation to extend the deadline. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/391 https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/391 https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/103 https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/103
- ttul 2y agoThank you for correcting me
- eslaught 2y agoSurely this is not the first case of a president not enforcing a law. So then presumably this goes back into court, and then what?
- honestSysAdmin 2y agoA little bit difficult to get the president elect who is to be inaugurated today (the 20th) when that same president elect in his own words reasonably believes that the 2020 election was stolen. I think we're all very certain that a thorough investigation into the 2020 election will clear up any concerns about it.
- gnkyfrg 2y ago[dead]
- throwawayq3423 2y agoTrump can choose to not enforce the law. That is of course illegal, and a high crime, but who is left to stop him?
- tsimionescu 2y agoIt's not illegal, nor a high crime. It is in fact established precedent that this is in the purview of presidential power. This is why FBI agents are not raiding every marijuana shop in DC or the states that legalized it: since Obama, every president has chosen to instruct the justice department not to enforce federal law in this matter in those states.
- throwawayq3423 2y agoMarijuana shops were deemed legal on the state level, you are comparing a real conflict in federalism to ignoring a congressional and supreme court ruling with massive national security implications on day 1.
- tsimionescu 2y agoYou're splitting hairs. The constitutional framework is clear - federal law has priority over state law. The only relevant aspect is whether the president has an obligation to enforce federal law or not. And the precedent is very clear: they do not.
- throwawayq3423 2y ago> The constitutional framework is clear - federal law has priority over state law. It is anything but clear and the subject of ongoing legal battles. https://www.cato.org/commentary/yes-states-can-nullify-some-federal-laws-not-all https://www.cato.org/commentary/yes-states-can-nullify-some-... Again, you picked an example of a real conflict between state and federal law and compared it to an unambiguous law passed by congress confirmed by the supreme court that the incoming POTUS will simply ignore. No, that is not normal. Feeling like i'm going to be gaslit everyday for the next 4 years so i'll save that statement somewhere in a word doc.
- nprateem 2y agoBut that's the point isn't it. He's testing the waters. There will be no consequences and therefore few limits to his power. Welcome to the new dictatorship. I'll post this here for posterity: He'll find a way to get a 3rd term in power. Maybe he'll claim the constitution means no 2 consecutive terms, maybe he'll just ignore it, start a war, whatever. But I'd be willing to bet on it. In fact, I just might...