How Trump's Attacks on Democracy Put the Constitution at Risk
From military crackdowns to silencing dissent, this Constitution Day reminds us all that we must fight to uphold our rights and preserve the rule of law.
By Sarah Longwell and Deirdre Schifeling
In 1952, seven years after the end of the Second World War, Congress established Constitution Day to celebrate our country’s sacred foundational document. In the more than 70 years since, most Americans have taken for granted the fundamental freedoms this day honors. There are no parades, no barbecues, and no mattress sales for Constitution Day. In many ways, this low profile is a sign of strength.
But this year, that complacency feels perilous. Fundamental pillars of our democracy are under assault, and the situation is more dire than many realize. That’s why we can no longer assume the Constitution will simply survive through benign neglect. We must fight to protect and strengthen it.
Established 238 years ago, our constitutional system has been so stable and reliable that many don’t have to give it a second thought. As our country has evolved and expanded rights and advanced democratic reforms, this framework—through its many iterations and amendments—has remained true to its core throughout. Through civil war and depression, world wars and social upheavals, through the peaceful transfer of power across generations and parties, Americans have been able to count on the Constitution being there.
Today we are facing a new type of threat. There is now a coordinated assault on the constitutional architecture that has sustained American democracy. This assault should alarm anyone who values constitutional governance and the personal freedoms we so often take for granted.
Alarmingly, we’re witnessing the intrusion of military force into civilian life. Earlier this summer the president deployed Marines and National Guard units to crack down on protests in Los Angeles and has thousands of Guard members patrolling the streets of Washington D.C. The administration has signaled that this is just the start, with plans to deploy more troops onto American streets in Chicago and possibly elsewhere.
This violates a founding principle of American governance, enshrined in the Posse Comitatus Act, that military forces should not police civilians. The Constitution establishes a clear civil-military divide because the founders understood that when the military becomes a tool of domestic control, constitutional democracy dies. Immigration detention centers under construction on military bases echo some of the darkest chapters in our history and represent a dangerous conflation of military and civilian authority.
As we saw in Los Angeles, the deployment of troops is a fear tactic meant to silence opposition and criminalize dissent. But the attacks on the First Amendment are not isolated to targeting peaceful protest. The Trump administration has ushered in a new McCarthy era, sending a clear message that if someone disagrees with our government, they will be punished.
Just look at this administration’s actions. Federal agents have repeatedly detained or arrested public officials conducting legitimate oversight, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Rep. LaMonica McIver, and Sen. Alex Padilla, who was tackled and detained for asking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem questions. Students, including green card holders, have been detained and threatened with deportation for writing op-eds or expressing views that deviate from what the administration deems acceptable.
The administration is not content with silencing critics—it rejects the very concept of legitimate political opposition. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller recently declared, "The Democrat party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization." Coming from an administration that’s literally prosecuting a Democratic congresswoman on invented felony charges stemming from her oversight of an ICE facility, this explicit rejection of political pluralism is chilling.
Perhaps most dangerously, the Trump administration is ignoring the rule of law and corrupting justice itself. The president has targeted law firms whose attorneys investigated him, stripping their security clearances, barring attorneys from federal buildings, and terminating government contracts unless firms agree to coercive demands for "pro bono" services. He excoriates judges who issue unfavorable rulings, calling them "radical left lunatics" and "deranged," while encouraging calls for impeachment or worse. Ominously, the Justice Department is now seeking financial sanctions against immigration attorney Joshua Schroeder for filing emergency motions to halt his client's deportation—the first case under a new Trump directive to personally target lawyers who challenge administration policies.
Military forces now police civilians. Members of Congress are arrested for doing their jobs. The president's top adviser declares the opposition party illegitimate. Judges and lawyers face threats for upholding the law. This is the systematic dismantling of constitutional governance.
The Constitution has survived 238 years because we, the people, have fought for it when it was threatened. Today, the danger is not from foreign invasion or civil war, but instead the methodical dismantling of constitutional governance by a president sworn to uphold it. At a moment when we are seeing political violence escalating—claiming lives and threatening the very free discourse our Constitution protects—we must choose peaceful democratic engagement over dehumanization and violence. The power ultimately lies with the people, and as a country we must decide whether we will defend our Constitution or let it fall.
Sarah Longwell is spokeswoman and advisory board member of Home of the Brave. Deirdre Schifeling is chief political and advocacy officer at the ACLU.
This post originally appeared on the ACLU blog.
I think we have plenty of evidence as to what the right-wing oligarchs are up to, and it has nothing to do with good government, world peace, general prosperity, human decency, truth or democracy. Lying their pants off to get obscenely richer is pretty much the play, with the absolute power to keep the "masses" from ever being a "problem" and the wealth the masses produce hyper-concentrated into as few hands as possible. Laws and civil rights, democracy and freedom need not apply. They forget that tyranny ALWAYS ends...badly. We could hasten that process by making world-class, universally accessible, lifelong, 21st Century, evidence-based EDUCATION a top priority, S.T.A.T.!
Ask not what we can spare, but what we NEED to do that really well -- and sustain it. This is the one, highest yielding investment we can possibly make to "vaccinate" ourselves against the rise of authoritarian fascist would-be tyrants like Trump, et al. The other thing we can do is put a yoke, harness and reins on capitalism and make it work for ALL The People, instead of only a privileged few of them. Start by kicking business OUT of government!! Rescind "Citizens United"!!! Control or ban paid lobbying. Plug loopholes and reform taxation to reflect more reason and less greed. We Can Do This!
we desperately need all those folks who have been "phoning it in" to wake the f up and get in the game--media comglomerates, big universities, well-positioned Republicans, slow-playing Democrats, unions, farmers, the SCOTUS, the wealthy, and so on. This country is a sleeping giant and could squish Trump like a bug--if it sets its mind to it. So far it has been kind of tepid, disorganized, counterproductive, and ineffective. Meanwhile China and Russia are sowing discord over Kirk, and of course the Right is using Kirk as a pretext for destroying the Constitution. So we are in the thick of it for SURE.