Top Democrat Jamie Raskin (Md.) is launching a pre-emptive effort to obstruct a second Trump administration by limiting the impact of the Supreme Court's immunity ruling.
Raskin's "No Dictators" initiative draws inspiration from the top court's July ruling that found U.S. presidents have broad immunity from prosecution.
At a press conference with former Republican Joe Walsh, Raskin called on Congress to "defend the constitutional order" against aspiring despots - a clear allusion to Trump, whom Democrats have painted as a threat to democracy.
"It is up to Congress, the representative branch of the people, to defend the constitutional order against presidents who would trample the freedoms of the people," Raskin said.
Raskin's declaration does not mention Trump by name, but its "five pillars" plainly echo charges that Democrats have levied at him.
"It's got five main pillars to it – one, limiting the president's power to declare bogus domestic and foreign emergencies to seize power and bypass congressional authority," Raskin said.
As president, Trump declared a national emergency to build his border wall.
Raskin also calls for "restricting the president's ability to use the Insurrection Act to deploy the military domestically against the people," and preventing the adoption of "loyalty tests" to purge the civil service.
Finally, Raskin is calling for presidents who commit crimes to be "prosecuted like all other citizens" and for presidents to be restrained from prosecuting their political opponents.
The Supreme Court's immunity ruling derailed the Biden Justice Department's January 6th case against Trump, who has accused Democrats of weaponizing government against him.
Democrats claim the Supreme Court placed Trump and future presidents "above the law." But the court's majority cited the separation of powers and concerns about making U.S. presidents fearful of prosecution by their political rivals.
While Raskin's declaration appears to be largely symbolic, he told Fox News Digital that he hopes to turn it into legislation if Democrats win control of the House in the fall.
"I hope that when we get back in, that we will be able to have at least a couple of serious hearings about the problem of overreach in the executive branch and weakness to potential tyrants and despots and dictators," Raskin told Fox News Digital.
"I hope that those hearings would lead us to create a legislative package to address these structural deficiencies in our statutory system."
Raskin's continued characterization of Trump as an aspiring dictator comes despite Trump surviving two assassination attempts in a matter of months.
Raskin helped push the effort to block Trump from the ballot, which was rejected unanimously by the Supreme Court earlier this year.
In shocking comments, Raskin suggested Congress would need to risk "civil war conditions" and disqualify Trump if he wins the election.
And they say Trump is the threat to democracy...
