Trump’s border czar doesn’t ‘care what judges think.’ Do you?

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The headline read: “Trump Border Czar: ‘I don’t care what the judges think.’ ”

To many in our community, the headline was chilling. Defiance of judicial orders by the government should be of concern to us all, regardless of political allegiance. It matters not whether you’re a MAGA Republican or a self-professed progressive; it matters not whether you like or dislike the policies currently pursued by the Trump administration. That’s because defiance of judicial orders is a threat to our democracy.

“So strongly were the framers of the Constitution bent on securing a reign of law that they endowed the judicial office with extraordinary safeguards and prestige. No one, no matter how exalted his public office or how righteous his private motive, can be judge in his own case. That is what courts are for.”

That’s U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter writing in concurrence with the majority opinion in the 1947 case U.S. v. United Mine Workers.

Frankfurter eloquently explained why the separation of powers and the rule of law are so important to our democracy.

“There can be no free society without law administered through an independent judiciary. If one man can be allowed to determine for himself what is law, every man can. That means first chaos, then tyranny. Legal process is an essential part of the democratic process. For legal process is subject to democratic control by defined, orderly ways which themselves are part of law. In a democracy, power implies responsibility. The greater the power that defies law, the less tolerant can this Court be of defiance.”

If the actions of the president and his appointed representatives conflict with judicial directives, members of our community need to ask themselves if they’re willing to tolerate the chaos and tyranny against which Frankfurter warned. In so doing, they need to consider whether their view would be the same if the actions ruled against were those of a future administration with whom they disagree.

As a community, we need to consider whether any one person, regardless of party affiliation, should be able to gain absolute power. Should any one person, whether their views are Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, stand above the law?

My hope is that there’s broad agreement, without regard to political affiliation, that we’re a nation of laws, that no one is above the law, and that the ultimate arbiter whether the government’s actions defy the law is our courts. If we don’t hold those precepts as fundamental truths, our democracy is in trouble.

Mel Dickstein, now retired, was a district judge in Hennepin County from 2002 to 2018.