Since Donald Trump wants nothing more then to surround himself with uncontested yes men, No. 45 decided to fire acting attorney general Sally Yates after she instructed Department of Justice lawyers to stop defending the executive order calling for a Muslim ban.
Here’s a statement from the White House on the Tweeter and Chiefs DOJ shakeup (via CBS News):
“The acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States,” the White House said in a statement on Monday night. “This order was approved as to form and legality by the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.”
Now sure, Yates wasn’t a Trump nominee, she was in fact appointed by the Obama administration.
And sure there will be many out there bitching and complaining about her blatant insubordination to the President of the United States with the smallest hands to ever grasp and Oval Office pen.
However there’s also some very important lessons that Mr. Trump can learn from all of this.
First, (and I’m not sure how much of this his bad comb over will let in) but it’s not the attorney general’s job to fall in line with whatever the president’s bidding may be. The job of the attorney general is uphold the laws of the land and the will of the people. In that, Yates made if very clear that she wasn’t convinced Trump’s Muslim ban was lawful and that she would not defend the executive order until she was convinced otherwise. Granted that’s something that probably never would have happened considering the Muslim ban is undoubtedly unconstitutional.
Second, executing and executive order such as the one Trump signed Friday goes to show that it’s probably not a good idea to enforce and order that’s open to tremendous litigation until you get your attorney general confirmed.
But I’m sure Trump already considered all of that.
