Growing Constitutional Crisis

"A growing crisis in our constitutional system threatens to fundamentally alter the balance of powers — and accountability — within our government," write liberal academic law professor Jonathan Turley (George Washington Law) and conservative U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisc) in a Washington Post op-ed.

This crisis did not begin with Obama, but it has reached a constitutional tipping point during his presidency. Indeed, it is enough to bring the two of us — a liberal academic and a conservative U.S. senator — together in shared concern over the future of our 225-year-old constitutional system of self­governance. [snip]

In our view, the gridlock in Washington is not simply the result of toxic divisions. The dysfunctional politics we are experiencing may in part be the result of a deeper corrosion — a dangerous instability that is growing within our Madisonian system.

That dangerous instability concerns:

1. The growing shift of authority to federal agencies — "what is essentially a fourth branch of government" — that has "dramatically reduced [Congress's] ability to actively monitor, let alone influence, agency actions."
2. The refusal of courts to review constitutional disputes because of an overly constricted view of the standing of lawmakers to sue and other procedural barriers.
3. The rising share of federal spending that is not under [Congress's] control.