Washington DC – Despite many happy memories of this city, where two of my children were born and where I had the challenge and privilege of being a White House correspondent during three Presidencies, being back here in this week of America’s 250th birthday has delivered a chilling wake-up call.
“One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” That’s the ageless appeal of the Pledge of Allegiance and it speaks not just to the lofty goals of the American dream but also to a wish for others to hear a global cry for the best of humanity, which to my ear has always been also at the heart of the American way.
But this 4 July speaks to another America where the ideals of the Pledge are under attack. Even at a time of birthday celebrations, the Supreme Court gave President Donald Trump unprecedented powers; to expel legal immigrants en masse, and to fire the heads of supposedly independent government agencies at the stroke of his pen – or more likely via a rant on social media.
Shorts
“The Court gives the President the power unknown even to the English crown, against which our Founders revolted,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor with withering sarcasm, dissenting from a majority ruling that legitimised Donald Trump sacking the chiefs of agencies deciding policy on everything from trade to equal opportunity to consumer protection. Jobs protected by law for a century to guarantee their non-partisan independence. For good reason, let me add. That stuff – trade, consumer protection – is the People’s Business.
