As President Obama prepares to issue an executive order effectively legalizing five million illegal immigrants this week, many on the left and the right are issuing their criticisms toward him for violating the process and going at it alone.
On Friday George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley, who describes himself as a liberal, made an appearance on The Kelly File to discuss the issue. He warned that not only is the country at a tipping point, something he warned about in congressional testimony earlier this year, but also expressed his hope that President Obama doesn't get away with it.
"What I'm hearing certainly causes great concern that he will again violate the separation of powers," Turley said. "No president can take on the power of all three branches and that's what he seems to be doing. He certainly seems to be taking on legislative authority. He isn't be particularly coy about this, you know he says 'this is what I wanted to get out of legislation and I'm going to do it on my own' and that does become a government of one."
Turley also cautioned the President against ignoring the results of the 2014 midterm elections by going around Congress on this issue despite frustration of partisan disagreements.
"It's a very sad moment but it's becoming a particularly dangerous moment if the president is going to go forward, particularly after this election to defy the will of Congress yet again. I can understand the frustration, these are two political parties that cannot get along but as you said, we have a Democratic process and a Congress that's coming in with the full voice of the American people behind them, that's what an election is, you may disagree with the outcome, but you have to respect the outcome," Turley continued. "What the President is suggesting is tearing at the very fabric of the constitution. We have a separation of powers that gives us balance and that doesn't protect the branches. It's not there to protect the executive branch or the legislative branch, it's there to protect liberty. It's there to keep any branch from assuming so much control that they become a threat to liberty."
"I always tell my friends on the Democratic side, we will rue the day when we helped create this uber presidency," he said. "What the Democrats are creating is something very very dangerous. They're creating a president who can go at it alone and to go at it alone is something that is a very danger that the framers sought to avoid in our constitution."
Join the conversation as a VIP Member