Washington — In the wake of the tumultuous U.S. Supreme Court decision in Trump v. United States, a case that has alarmed Americans in that it puts a president above the law for actions most of us consider despicable, the Department of Justice should issue an emergency "Statement of Policy" to assure the country that it will continue to prosecute criminal and civil wrongdoing in the time-honored, two-century tradition of the U.S. Constitution.
Specifically, the Department of Justice should announce it will, notwithstanding Trump v. United States:
• define "official" actions narrowly to prevent their being employed to cover illegal "unofficial" actions;
• consider all presidential powers in the context of America's framework of limited government, with its separation of powers and checks and balances, including "core" presidential powers, which if used corruptly, cannot be "absolute";
• rebut any "presumptive immunity" that tilts history's judicial scales unfairly, including those of Hammurabi, Moses, and Solon, and rely additionally on our own authors of The Federalist papers, who wrote that presidents must be "liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law." Immunity would not extend to withholding evidence from a jury when tantamount to bearing false witness.
This emergency "Statement of Policy" will reassure citizens that the government's top agency for prosecution of wrongdoing, part of a co-equal branch in our system, is still on the job.
The public should be given 45-day notice in the Federal Register to comment. Reaction will be overwhelmingly supportive, if the public is given the chance to weigh in.
