在一起很可能界定唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统权力限度的法庭案件中，一名联邦法官周四恢复了一名联邦劳工机构成员的职务，并警告说，如果特朗普继续像国王一样统治，将对国家造成损害。
美国地区法官贝里尔·豪厄尔(Beryl Howell)恢复了格温·威尔科克斯(Gwynne Wilcox)在国家劳工关系委员会(National Labor Relations Board)的职位，此前特朗普在没有提供任何理由的情况下将她解职，发表了一份意见，表明该案件可能是对“单一行政理论”的更广泛考验。
“美国总统不是国王——甚至不是‘选举’出来的——他罢免联邦官员和像原告这样诚实的公务员的权力不是绝对的，”豪厄尔写道。
威尔科克斯上个月提起诉讼，质疑她在深夜被国家劳工关系委员会解雇，她似乎承认，在“一连串公开非法解雇”之后，她的诉讼可能成为总统权力限度的“测试案例”。豪厄尔的36页裁决似乎是在暗示，提出了广泛的批评，即特朗普对其权力范围的解释完全违反了宪法，并有可能给国家带来持久的损害。
豪厄尔写道:“总统对其宪法权力范围的解释——或者更恰当地说，他的愿望——是完全错误的。”
引用白宫2月19日特朗普戴着皇冠的“国王万岁”帖子，豪厄尔暗示总统试图像君主一样治理国家。
她写道，“一个标榜自己是‘国王’或‘独裁者’的总统，或许是他对有效领导的愿景，从根本上误解了美国宪法第二条规定的角色。”
根据豪厄尔的说法，特朗普不是一个“尽责的法律监护人”，而是在法院阻止他之前一直在测试他的权力极限。
豪厄尔法官写道:“总统似乎有意超越他的职权范围，以违反明确成文法的方式行使他的权力，以测试法院会在多大程度上接受总统至高无上的理念。”。
值得注意的是，豪厄尔的裁决援引了“单一行政”——一种总统可以对行政部门行使完全控制的理论——并暗示该案可能成为将长期以来关于总统权力的“学术实践”具体化为法律的一种方式。
“首先，制宪者明确表示，在我们的政府体系中，没有人注定要成为国王——包括总统——而不仅仅是名义上的，”她写道。
Trump is not a king, judge says in reinstating fired federal labor board member
In a court case that could very well define the limits of Donald Trump's presidential power, a federal judge Thursday reinstated a member of a federal labor agency, warning of the damage to the country if Trump continues to rule as if he were a king.
U.S District Judge Beryl Howell reinstated Gwynne Wilcox to the National Labor Relations Board after Trump removed her without providing any cause, issuing an opinion that suggests the case could be a broader test of the "unitary executive theory."
"An American President is not a king -- not even an 'elected' one -- and his power to remove federal officers and honest civil servants like plaintiff is not absolute," Howell wrote.
Wilcox brought her case last month to challenge her late-night firing from the National Labor Relations Board and she seemingly acknowledged that her lawsuit -- following a "string of openly illegal firings" -- might become a "test case" for the limits of presidential power. Howell's 36-page ruling seemingly took the cue, offering a broad criticism that Trump's interpretation of his scope of power flatly violates the Constitution and risks lasting damage to the country.
"The President's interpretation of the scope of his constitutional power -- or, more aptly, his aspiration -- is flat wrong," Howell wrote.
Citing the White House's Feb. 19 "Long Live the King" post of Trump wearing a crown, Howell suggested that the president is attempting to govern like a monarch.
"A President who touts an image of himself as a 'king' or a 'dictator,' perhaps as his vision of effective leadership, fundamentally misapprehends the role under Article II of the U.S. Constitution," she wrote.
Rather than being a "conscientious custodian of the law," Trump has been testing the limits of his power before courts stop him, according to Howell.
"The President seems intent on pushing the bounds of his office and exercising his power in a manner violative of clear statutory law to test how much the courts will accept the notion of a presidency that is supreme," Judge Howell wrote.
Notably, Howell's decision invoked the "unitary executive" -- a theory that the president can exercise complete control over the executive branch -- and suggested the case could become a way to materialize what has long been an "academic exercise" about the president's power into law.
"To start, the Framers made clear that no one in our system of government was meant to be king -- the President included -- and not just in name only," she wrote.
