Monday on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” former Obama HUD Secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidate Julián Castro said if the Supreme Court sides with President Donald Trump’s border emergency it would be a bad precedent.
Castro said, “If I take office on January 20, 2021, that I will come into office with a strong belief that climate change is a national emergency, that the fact that so many people in this country die because of gun violence, that is a national emergency, the folks that —the fact that so many folks still sleep on the streets in our country because they can’t find a place to live that is affordable is a national emergency. So I think this president is setting a bad precedent. What he should do is negotiate with Congress if he’s determined to get funding for the wall. He hasn’t been able to do that. And this is a symptom of his failure because I do believe that it is going to set a bad precedent and there are more pressing things that we need to do if we’re considering what is a national emergency. I hope that it doesn’t go in that direction, frankly, because I think that Congress should play its role, whether authorizing the use of military force or budgetary decisions. That is not something the president should abuse.”
He added, “If the president’s action in this case is upheld by the Supreme Court, then it does open up new avenues for future presidents to take action. And that is why I think that you see both conservatives and progressives who have taken a step back and said, look, this might not be in the best interest. It is not in the best interest for this president to go forward in this way.”
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