Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Department of Justice Acting Attorney General Sally Yates Fired. . . constitutionally

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Sally Yates has been acting as Attorney General while we wait for Jeff Sessions, Trump's nominee for the position, to be confirmed by the United States Senate.  Yates is an Obama appointee.  She's a hard left liberal, and she instructed her subordinates to not enforce President Trump's executive order, calling it unconstitutional.  In response, Donald Trump fired her.

According to Article II of the United States Constitution, all executive power is vested in the President of the United States, which includes the persons serving under the President in the executive branch.  Therefore, it is the job of those executive branch officials to carry out the executive powers of the President as the President sees fit.  While they are free to disagree with him, they are essentially his employees, and if they do not want to do their job by executing the President's directives, they can either resign, or expect to be fired.

The Democrats have responded as if what Trump did, in regards to the firing of Yates, was somehow outside his authority.  He had every right to fire Acting Attorney General Sally Yates.  It is his executive branch.

The whole thing emerged over President Trump's executive order temporarily restricting the admission into the United States persons from a list of seven Muslim-majority countries with a history of harboring terrorists, funding terrorism, and promoting the Islamic jihad.

Yates' opposition to the president’s policy was fine.  She's entitled to her opinion.  But, as his employee by refusing to follow the executive order she was, simply put, insubordinate.

I am sure the Democrats will hold her up on their proverbial shoulders and label her courageous and a hero.  She has just thrust her name onto the list of rising Democrat stars that she probably had no chance of being on, otherwise.  Her act of sabotage will be celebrated.  Why Donald Trump had left her in place, in the first place, I have no answer.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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