There’s a lot wrong with the bill before Congress, such as the fact that it gives huge tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting back funds awarded to Medicaid and other worthy programs. But even more scary in the bill is the provision that would restrict our government’s ability to respond to an incident of contempt of a judicial court’s decision.

Under provisions tucked into the over 1,000 pages of this bill, court rulings would become unenforceable, so that anyone could ignore a court’s ruling without penalty. Various courts, including the Supreme Court, have not ruled in Trump’s favor as of late, so it appears this was considered one way to remove teeth from a court’s ruling.

The framers designed the Constitution to provide our government with a balance of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The changes in this bill would render our judicial system of courts powerless to have any influence in our government, and allow the president to do whatever he wants, whether it’s legal or not. Senators and members of Congress need to be aware of this grave danger to our democracy.

Linda McLoon
Portland