Trump is accusing Obama of putting up “roadblocks” to a smooth transition. In reality, I think President Obama has been too cooperative. In the next 23 days, I'd recommend he make the following parting shots:
1. Name Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives the President authority to fill vacancies during a Senate recess. This includes filling a Supreme Court vacancy: Justice William Brennan began his tenure with a recess appointment in 1956. Any appointments made this way would expire at the end of the next Senate session. So a Garland appointment made on January 3 would last until December 2017, the end of the first session of the 115th Congress.
2. Use his pardon authority to forgive the past and future civil immigration offenses of the nearly 750,000 young people granted legal status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Dream) program. Without an immigration offense on their records, they could more easily apply for legal status.
3. Impose economic sanctions on Russia for interfering in the 2016 presidential election, including blocking all further loans or investments by Russian nationals in all real estate in the United States.
4. Instruct all cabinet departments and agencies not to respond to any Trump transition team inquiry that might intimidate any individual members of the civil service.
5. Issue an executive order protecting the independence of all government fact-finding agencies: The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Energy Information. (Trump could repeal the order, but that would be politically costly.)
6. Issue an executive order protecting the independence of all Inspectors General in every cabinet department and agency. (Ditto.)
7. Issue a report showing which states' citizens will most benefit from tax cuts going to the richest Americans and largest corporations (overwhelmingly blue states), and which states will lose the most from cuts in Medicaid and repeal of Obamacare (overwhelmingly red states), along with estimates of such gains and losses.
8. Other actions?
What do you think?
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