Josh Chafetz: “The Real ‘Resistance’ to Trump? The GOP Congress.”

Josh Chafetz for Politico:

Many are asking aloud questions that in recent times had only been whispered: Do the Constitution’s checks and balances still work? Is James Madison’s eighteenth-century notion that “ambition” could be trusted to “counteract ambition” applicable to an era of partisanship so intense that it’s warping people’s very conceptions of reality? Can the other constitutional branches—and especially Congress—check President Trump?

As it turns out, the answer thus far is—more or less—yes: Congress is providing a check on President Trump’s powers. It may not be happening as swiftly or as comprehensively as some Democrats might like, but the legislative branch is making its weight felt in the Trump era in a manner that, if it continues, bids fair to leave Trump with a reputation as an extraordinarily weak modern president.

The piece is drawn from Josh’s new book, Congress’s Constitution: Legislative Authority and the Separation of Powers.  I’ll have more on that in coming weeks.

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