WATCH: Padilla Denounces Trump Administration’s Disregard for the Rule of Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered remarks on the Senate floor denouncing President Trump and his Administration for their blatant disregard for the rule of law and sounded the alarm on their threats to our justice system.
As the courts block many of President Trump’s blatantly illegal Executive Orders, Padilla condemned Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk’s recent statements trying to intimidate judges and undermine the rule of law.
Padilla also slammed Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) nominees who have repeatedly refused to commit to upholding their oaths to defend the Constitution. Last week, Padilla warned against these dangerous DOJ nominees, many of whom have represented Trump in a personal capacity.
Key Excerpts:
- I too rise today to defend the principles at the core of our democratic republic. That we are a government of laws and institutions, not of individuals. That no billionaire has more rights than any worker. And that no President has more rights than any citizen of our country. That we are a government of three coequal branches, providing checks and balances on each other. And bottom line: that no one is above the law.
- Yet as we stand here today, the Trump Administration is clearly, openly laying the groundwork to reject all of these principles. They’re operating under their idea that the President, his cabinet of loyalists, and an unelected billionaire “advisor” can simply ignore the law or courts in rulings that they disagree with.
- The Judiciary does not work for Donald Trump. It is a separate, coequal branch of government. The courts, colleagues, work for the American people.
- For Americans watching from home, here’s how I can boil it down. Let’s ask ourselves, do you believe that the President can simply ignore the law? Do you believe that the President should be all-powerful? Do you believe that if you have to follow the law, then the President of our country should have to follow it as well?
- For years, we’ve known that if a President did try to push the boundaries of what’s legal and what’s not — we could count on an independent Department of Justice to enforce court rulings. But over the past few weeks, what we’ve seen in Judiciary Committee is nominee after nominee appear before us and refuse to simply commit to upholding the law.
- A President feeling unconstrained by the courts, by the Constitution, and the rule of law is no President at all. It’s a power-hungry, wannabe king.
- What we’re asking of our Republican colleagues today isn’t anything radical. It’s the fundamental principle that men and women dedicated to themselves nearly 250 years ago in the founding of our nation — that we shall be ruled of, by, and for the people — not of, by, and for a king or dictator.
Video of Senator Padilla’s remarks is available here.
Footage of his remarks can be downloaded here.
Senator Padilla has fought to hold Trump’s DOJ nominees accountable and has warned against the Trump Administration’s attack on the rule of law. Padilla opposed advancing Attorney General Bondi’s nomination after she refused to affirm birthright citizenship, which is constitutionally guaranteed, and declined to disavow the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. He also sounded the alarm on Kash Patel’s reckless nomination to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), delivering remarks ahead of Patel’s confirmation at a press conference outside FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. and in a speech on the Senate floor. Padilla also recently questioned three of President Trump’s DOJ nominees, raising concerns over Republican DOJ nominees’ apparent willingness to disregard the rule of law and ignore court orders they disagree with. Additionally, Padilla joined Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats earlier this year in demanding answers from Bondi, Patel, and other Trump Administration nominees and officials on the removal or reassignment of career law enforcement officials across the DOJ and FBI.
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