Nominees for federal judgeships were questioned about their beliefs regarding President Donald Trump’s Article II authority during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. One nominee, Matthew Schwartz, previously worked as a lawyer for Trump and refused to give a clear answer about Trump’s 2019 claim of absolute presidential authority. Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked whether the president is able to do anything he wants to do, citing Trump’s statement about having Article II rights to do whatever he wants. Schwartz said he did not know the context of the remarks and instead described checks and balances, noting that each branch has power and discretion. He did not explain his views on Article II limits.
"Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) asked Schwartz to specifically comment on a statement Trump made in 2019, in which he claimed at a political rally to have absolute authority. Citing those words, Klobuchar asked Schwartz, "Do you believe the president is able to do anything he wants to do?" Despite Trump's comments being widely publicized, Schwartz claimed he didn't "know the context" of what the president had said."
""We have a constitutional system of checks and balances," Schwartz said. "The executive branch is obviously very strong in certain areas, and has tremendous amounts of power and discretion. And in other areas, the other branches have power and discretion, and there's a balance amongst them." "Without knowing the context [of Trump's words], I really couldn't comment further on it," he added."
"In no part of his response did Schwartz explain his beliefs on Article II authorities or limits. Article II of the U.S. Constitut"
#judicial-nominations #article-ii-authority #senate-judiciary-committee #checks-and-balances #presidential-power
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