Cameron Smith: America’s shift from rule of law to rule by executive branch

  The "rule of law" has served as the backbone of democracy from America’s founding. First, all Americans agree to be held accountable under the law. To secure that consent, the process to enact, administer and enforce those laws must be transparent, democratically accessible, and impartial. While that process has rarely been perfect, it has consistently created stable, predictable laws that serve as the guiderails for civil society.

  The last several decades have marked a continued erosion of the rule of law in America’s federal government. The gradual change has resulted from Congress ceding its constitutional powers, leaving essentially a type of ad hoc rule by the President and the executive branch agencies.