I have been getting strange texts on my phone for months now. The two most memorable catchphrases I can recall are “third term president”and “No Kings Act” precisely because they are so contrarian. Are they grist to the mill? Or fly-by-night partisan politics? As a concerned citizen with a solid education in American high school civics, I seek to get to the bottom of all this in a commonsense manner.
The No Kings Act is a Democratic initiative holding the president accountable for criminal acts given immunity by the Supreme Court. The French King Louis XIV would have retorted, “L’État, c’est moi!” (I am the state!). The Framers were well aware of the belief in absolute monarchy and identifying the king with the whole government. Well, we do not have kings in America. Never have, never will. Why reinvent the wheel?
The “third term president” bill amends the Constitution so that a president with two non-consecutive terms can run for president a third time. That is a nod to President Trump and cleverly excludes Democratic presidents Obama and Clinton. But you would need buy-in from Congress and three-quarters of the state legislatures, or from two-thirds of the state legislatures for a Constitutional Convention. You’re better off trying to win the lottery!
The real problem is executive overreach. Trump is encroaching upon the domains of (hence, the No Kings Act), or is being ceded power by (hence, the third term president bill), the legislative and judicial branches. He is enforcing the laws, making the laws and interpreting the laws, all in one go. That is a no-no in our form of government, regardless of party affiliation.
The legislative branch gave way when Trump made Elon Musk, his protégé, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE essentially took the “power of the purse” from Congress and gave it to Musk when he began targeting USAID, the CIA and FBI, Social Security, and the Food and Drug Administration.
The judicial branch was blindsided when Trump issued a flurry of executive orders, many with little to no detailed statutory or constitutional justification for their issuance. The courts require a specific raison d’être for these orders. This is a check of the judicial branch on the executive branch and establishes a separation of power. Unfortunately, the courts are inundated.
Currently, all three branches are under Republican control. As long as the separate identities of the three branches are respected, it is perfectly acceptable to disseminate a Republican agenda. What is not acceptable is for any two branches of government to cater to the caprices of the third branch so that it promulgates its own agenda. That is unconstitutional.
A “constitutional crisis” means that there is nothing in the original document that guides us out of today’s seeming political impasse. But the Framers foresaw a president like Trump — a real American “cowboy” (not a compliment). For such reckless executive overreach, the legislative and judicial branches must put him in his place.
There are glimmers of hope. Two conservative Supreme Court justices sided with the liberal dissent, 5-4, in cases involving a freeze of funding and Trump’s immunity defense. Five of 53 Republican senators defected to vote against at least one of the president’s cabinet appointees. Thirty-eight Republican representatives voted against a Trump-endorsed spending bill in December.
The very things about our government that prevent hasty or ill-considered decisions— system of checks and balances, three branches of government, Constitution and its amendments, separation of powers — can also contribute to slow decision-making processes. But if Congress and the courts are given just enough time to right the ship, then we the people of the United States have indeed formed a more perfect union.
This article originally was published in the Trib Live digital newspaper on March 24, 2025.
Please click on the link below to read the original version of this article:
https://triblive.com/opinion/jason-w-park-third-term-president-vs-no-kings-act/
Jason W. Park, a writer based in Los Angeles, was raised in Pittsburgh.
