Saly Yates would make a better Senator than John Cornyn for one simple reason. She is right and he is wrong about a fundamental matter. The matter at hand is whether an executive order from a US president should be approved by the Department of Justice if it exhibits thought that is on its face unconstitutional. Mr. Cornyn suggested if was not the job of Ms. Yates to make such a determination. That, he suggested, should be left to the courts.
Ms. Yates demurs
With great self-possession in the face of the Senator, Ms. Yates explained why it should not be left to the courts exclusively.
She was fired by President trump after suggesting that Michael Flynn might be subject to blackmail by the Russians. Ms. Yates was put into the driver's seat at Justice following AG Jeff Sessions' recusal of himself on all matters relating to Russia. Sessions had not been forthcoming about his own dealings with the Russians. In this context, as the principal voice of the US Justice Department Ms., Yates contended that Mr. Trump sent over an executive order the department was well-advised to reject because of its clear unconstitutionality.
A polite rejoinder
The video above is a bit hyperbolic in its headline. Sally didn't slam John, She politely told him that Trump had sent a defective executive order that was unconstitutional because it was based on premises that were not even in the order.
Cornyn like Yates is a lawyer and while her academic creds are impressive, so are his. He did not become apoplectic as Yates made her case.
But he made it completely clear that he was, for whatever reason, determined to argue what he knew full well was a losing premise. We have an unconstitutional president and no the courts do not have the sole voice in so determining.
The justice department is the president's lawyer and with Mr. Sessions unable to advise Mr. Trump, Ms. Yates, his deputy, had to handle the job.
It won't happen
Yates is a Georgian and Cornyn is a Texan so the chances they will meet in an electoral contest are most likely nil. But the principle she defended should be held by all sides.
That is why she would be better as a Senator than a man who unfortunately has decided to place allegiance to a patently disruptive and unbalanced president ahead of allegiance to the United States of America. Yates has a future. She is articulate and holds her own with dignity. She bested Mr. Cornyn who, it must be admitted, was holding the weakest of hands.
