President Donald Trump should be stronger in fighting the courts in implementing his immigration ban — and even go so far as to ignore their restrictions, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, told Newsmax TV on Thursday.
"I think we have an out of control judiciary and I was hoping that President Trump would stand up to them," DeLay told Newsmax's Steve Malzberg.
"On this whole idea that the judiciary can get involved and overturn a law on national security that the president has the power to do . . . these courts have no jurisdiction in that regard. Trump should've taken on the courts.
"He tried to in the beginning, and I guess his lawyers starting backing him off, but the point is no matter what the Supreme Court rules on this issue, he ought to ignore it."
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The Supreme Court let a limited version of Trump's ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries take effect Monday. The decision followed a string of defeats for Trump from lower courts.
The court said the ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen can be enforced as long as those visitors lack a "credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States."
"People need to re-read Article III of the Constitution. The opinions by the courts are only opinions, the rulings by the court are only opinions, but they're not enforced by the executive branch or the legislative branch," DeLay said.
"When they do a lawless opinion, as the lower courts have, the executive branch can ignore it. People need to realize that."
DeLay is the author of "Revival! Revolution! Rebirth!: A Radical Call from the Former Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives," written with Wallace Henley and published by World Ahead Press.