On Monday, two Republican judges on the D.C. Circuit ruled that Congress doesn't have any authority to subpoena former White House Counsel Don McGahn over his discussions of the Mueller investigation with President Donald Trump — and must pass a new law to authorize such an ability.
Writing for The Washington Post, columnist Paul Waldman slammed the court's decision as "shocking" — and noted that it would fundamentally undermine the separation of powers.
"If the ruling were to hold up, it would mean that no future president or his administration would ever have to comply with a subpoena again," wrote Waldman. "Those subpoenas — a critical part of Congress’s ability to conduct oversight — would be effectively meaningless. Every president could say, as Trump has, that they’ve decided that what they do is none of Congress’s businesses, and that the legislative branch can go to hell."
"We all know that if this was Barack Obama or Bill Clinton making this incredible claim — that their administrations had the right to ignore any congressional subpoena they want, or all subpoenas — there’s no way in the world these judges would agree," wrote Waldman. "We’ve seen this so many times: Conservative judges whose principles turn 180 degrees when a Republican becomes president, and their views on executive power suddenly become expansive and generous. What distinguishes the current moment is that Trump and those who work for him make legal claims that go farther than even President George W. Bush ever contemplated, including the idea that he has complete immunity from any investigation or inquiry into his behavior, official or otherwise."
Under this court's opinion, wrote Waldman, "Congress would be at the mercy of any president" — it would have effectively stripped the former Republican House of the ability to investigate Benghazi, and it could potentially hamstring the current House investigation into Trump's Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
"If Trump wins a second term, it is almost guaranteed to be even more corrupt than the first, not just because it’s his natural inclination, but because he knows what he can get away with," concluded Waldman. "And as this ruling shows, there are plenty of other Republicans eager to help him do it."
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