Washington Merry-Go-Round

IMMEDIATE RELEASE 26 December 2025
WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND
Today’s Events in Historical Perspective
America’s Longest-Running Column, Founded 1932
First among equals
By Douglas Cohn and Eleanor Clift         
 
WASHINGTON – Napoleon was one of three consuls governing France until he became First Consul, first among equals.
We all learned in grade school that our democracy is built on three coequal branches of government: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch, which, in 1803, granted itself the power to review presidential actions and interpret laws passed by Congress. The Supreme Court went even further, taking upon itself the power to make laws as it did in the 2008 Heller decision when it effectively removed the words “A well-regulated militia” from the Second Amendment: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
On the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, presidents have taken it upon themselves to sidestep Congress by issuing executive orders, none more so than the current occupant of the White House.
James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, had expected the legislative branch – Congress – to be dominant, but a short clause in Article 1, Section 5 of the document undermined the whole idea: “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings.” These few words allowed Congress to relegate itself to last among equals, even to the current point of being irrelevant.
Congress empowered the majority leader of the Senate and the speaker of the House to prevent bills from coming to the floor for a vote, and also the power to decide when Congress will convene. The Senate created the filibuster that requires a 60-vote majority on many issues. These and other rules have tied Congress into knots that are almost insurmountable without one party having a large majority, which today is not the case.
Today, Congress has relegated itself to being a mere bystander while the big boys – the executive branch and the judiciary – are like scorpions in a bottle vying for power, and bets are on the president because the Supreme Court lacks the power to enforce its decisions.
All this is the background for the government’s current state of affairs.
The Supreme Court just ruled that Trump could not willy-nilly send National Guard troops to Chicago, that he needed a better excuse to override states’ rights and the Court will soon rule on the constitutionality of Trump’s tariff policies, with the expectation is that two or three of the Court’s six conservatives could join the Court’s three liberals to overrule tariffs that were created by executive orders.
Article 7 Section 2 of the Constitution says only Congress can declare war, but the last time they did so was December 8, 1942, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, which is why the current president did not seek congressional authority to attack Venezuelan vessels suspected of drug-running. Nor was Congress consulted on immigration policies and enforcement.
Congress has the constitutionally granted power of the purse, another power being ignored by the president, who routinely withholds or reallocates funds, such as announcing a $1,776 payment to every servicemember with funds he is taking from congressionally authorized housing assistance.
The list goes on, from placing his name on the congressionally created Kennedy Center to replacing U/S. attorneys without congressional approval.
In the face of these onslaughts, strong leaders of the past, such as Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson or Speaker of the House “Mr. Sam” Rayburn, would never have stood aside while Congress, their branch, was being ignored. In fairness, Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson do not have the big majorities their predecessors enjoyed, but maybe if they showed some spine and created bipartisan coalitions, they could gain back some of the power they ceded.
These men cannot even be said to be Trumpian puppets. A puppet does the puppet-master’s bidding. They are merely spectators, and so are we as we witness our three coequal branches of government becoming one.
 
See Eleanor Clift’s book Selecting a President, and Douglas Cohn’s latest books The President’s First Year: The Only School for Presidents Is the Presidency and World War 4: Nine Scenarios (endorsed by seven flag officers).
Twitter:  @douglas_cohn
© 2025 U.S. News Syndicate, Inc
Distributed by U.S. News Syndicate, Inc.
END WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND