It’s another week in America, which means that columnists throughout the land will declare that we’re in the middle of another constitutional crisis. It’s still not true. What is true is that President Donald Trump keeps pushing at the boundaries of his lawful power. And for now, at least, the courts are doing their job.
Two unfolding stories deserve special attention. They are Trump’s use of the National Guard and the indictment of New York attorney general Letitia James. Let’s take each in turn.
National Guard
The president is trying to send National Guard troops into what he calls “war-ravaged” Portland, Oregon, and “hellhole” Chicago, where anti-ICE protests, sometimes violent, have taken place. Earlier this month, a federal district judge appointed by Trump blocked the Guard from deploying in Portland. Last Thursday, another federal district judge did the same thing in Chicago, again finding that the anti-ICE protests are not violent enough to justify deploying the Guard.
