Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said on Fox Business Friday that presidential oversight over the Department of Justice is grounded in the U.S. Constitution.
A judge appointed by former President Joe Biden blocked President Donald Trump’s agenda by temporarily stopping the Department of Education’s move to cancel $600 million in grants aimed at supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in teacher training programs. During an appearance on “The Evening Edit,” Jarrett said he would debunk a widespread myth, propagated by media and academia, that the Justice Department must operate independently of presidential influence. He said this belief finds no basis in the Constitution.
“There is this persistent myth, which is propagated by the media, by academics, that the Justice Department operates independently, meaning the presidents must always be hands off. That is a fiction,” Jarrett said. “It is found nowhere in the Constitution. Indeed, the opposite is true. Under Article II, the executive branch is unitary. The president is the sole head of all agencies and departments, and that includes the Department of Justice.”
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This misperception, Jarrett said, has not deterred some from claiming a false paradigm of independence, which has been marketed aggressively to the public by some media figures and liberal academics. Jarrett added that such narratives ignore the explicit constitutional powers granted to the president.
“He hires, fires, and directs what they do. The DOJ is no more independent than Commerce, Treasury, or HHS, or any other department, but that hasn’t stopped the media illiterates and the liberal academics from claiming otherwise and trying to sell this fiction to the public. This false paradigm of independence,” Jarrett said. “It’s true that there are legal constraints. The DOJ must respect due process, equal rights, bill of rights, but they must also heed the direction and leadership of the president, who is also bound by the Constitution.”
Jarrett slammed critics like Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin.
“When Jamie Raskin howls that this is the end of the world, pay no attention to that guy. He wouldn’t know the meaning of the Constitution if it slapped him upside the head,” Jarrett said.
The Democratic National Committee and other education groups, along with teachers unions, have mounted several legal challenges against the Trump administration. These groups are banding together to oppose the administration’s cuts to DEI and other spending deemed unnecessary, encouraging schools to resist complying with these directives.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Fox Business)
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