Has Trump created a constitutional crisis by calling for impeachment of judges who disagree? | Opinion

Are we in a constitutional crisis? The Trump administration’s agenda is getting resistance from the courts. Trump is calling for the impeachment of judges who rule against him. In response the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, issued a statement condemning such a use of judicial impeachment.

Even before this recent episode, nearly a thousand law professors signed a letter stating, “We believe we are in a constitutional crisis.” But John Yoo, a conservative law professor at UC Berkeley, has argued that “claims of a constitutional crisis are overblown, if not completely imaginary.” Yoo sees talk of a crisis as partisan whining.

How would we know if we were in the middle of such a crisis — or any crisis? This is a difficult philosophical question with broad implications for thinking about economic crises, crises of faith, and personal existential crises. A crisis is a moment of instability, danger, and decision. It is a turning point in which conflict and change are in the air.

But it is difficult to know with certainty when a crisis is occurring. That’s because people disagree, both about the facts and the values under consideration. And historical change is unpredictable, and often unnoticed until after the fact.

Consider the execution of Jesus by the Roman authorities. This was a crisis of world-historical proportions for his followers. But for the Romans, it was business as usual. And most ordinary people in the ancient world had no idea that Christ was crucified in Jerusalem, or that this event would usher in a new epoch.

Our imaginations are narrow, and our knowledge is incomplete. We cannot predict the future. Our access to the facts is limited, and often biased. We disagree about what is right and what is good, as well as about what is really happening.

John F. Kennedy once said, “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of crisis preserve their neutrality.” A crisis is a decision point. It forces you to choose. But how do we choose if we are uncertain about what is happening?

Picking sides is difficult because a crisis is the result of a conflict of values, and confusion about the world itself. In a world of fake news, propaganda, and information silos, the task of diagnosing a crisis becomes quite difficult. And crises often involve disagreements among authorities. In the present crisis, which law professors should we trust? And who should we believe, the president or the chief justice?

Resilience, tenacity and adaptability pose other problems. As things change, it is wise to adapt and roll with the changes. It is also good to be loyal and persistent. But these useful traits can become dangerous in a crisis. People stick with dead-end jobs, crumbling marriages, and bad investments. From the outside it is often surprising to see how much misery people will endure. But from the inside, it is often hard to see how bad things have become.

Powerful psychological forces can lead us to deny the reality of a crisis, and pretend that everything is fine. Among these is a kind of wishful thinking and longing for a stable status quo. If we keep our heads down, we hope, things will turn out OK. And even if you pick a side, then what? Ordinary people can’t do much to resist the tides of history.

Even if we are in a constitutional crisis, we still need to go to work, pay our bills and mow the lawn.

The challenges discussed here are difficult. They remind us of the need for courage and wisdom. We must bravely seek the truth. But it is also important to remain humble and self-critical. Seek out counter-arguments. Imagine the other side. And realize that in a crisis, there are profound disputes about facts, values, and who counts as a legitimate authority.

Neutrality is a comforting illusion. Life demands decisions. We still make a choice, even if we choose not to choose. Humble self-criticism is no excuse for indifference, or complicity. We don’t know how present crises will unfold — in our private lives, or in the larger political world. But history will judge us. And if Kennedy is right, so too will the gods.