Jeff Sessions talks about preserving "constitutional heritage," slams "overreaching" courts
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said it's imperative to "vigorously defend our inalienable rights" as a part of the the United States' heritage of protecting and enforcing the country's constitutional laws, and he criticized courts that have recently struck down President Trump's executive orders as an "overreach" of the separation of powers.
"There's nothing like the sophistication and integrity and stability of our legal system. It's something beyond anything anywhere in the world," remarked Sessions at the Heritage Foundation's Legal Strategy Forum on Constitutional principles and the rule of law on Thursday.
He referred to the president's executive orders on DACA and the new travel ban and argued it is not for the "courts to decide what's compassionate or not."
"Judges' comments on policy like this is offensive, and it's disrespectful of the legislative and executive branches," said Sessions, urging the preservation of the separation of powers in the federal government. But also inherent in the separation of powers are the checks and balances that enable branches to curb each other's power, and which Sessions did not mention.
Sessions held up Hawaii U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson's ruling blocking the most recent iteration of the travel ban, as an example of judges who don't respect the separation of powers, arguing that they "erode the rule of law, create bad precedent and undermine the public respect necessary for courts to be able to function."
