Congress holds massive powers under the Constitution. Yet it consistently fails its most basic duties: timely appropriations, balanced budgets, debt management, oversight, checking presidential overreach, and debating its war-making powers. This chronic neglect is no minor flaw; it signals a deep “disassociation”—a dangerous gap between what Congress knows it must do and what it actually does to safeguard democracy.
My new book, Congress: An Irrelevant Institution or Guardian of the Republic, makes a stark point: The Constitution only works if Congress follows its instructions. If Congress refuses to defend its own powers, the separation of powers collapses—and places the republic as risk.
Let’s confront this reality: The Constitution exists to restrain government power. To achieve this duty each branch must fiercely checks the others. If even one branch abandons this duty, unchecked power threatens to crush freedom.
Congress’s disconnection between its failure to continuously check the powers of the Executive Branch and its constitutional role to defend the separation of powers is especially severe. Presidents have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within their core constitutional powers and presumptive immunity for all official acts. By combining this immunity with the pardon power and discretion over prosecutorial decisions, a president can issue illegal orders and pardon those who execute them or choose not to prosecute. In such situations, courts can issue valid orders, but they have no means to enforce an order. Since enforcement is the job of the Executive branch, there can be no rule of law without effective congressional oversight.
Only Congress has the constitutional power to effectively check the Executive Branch. It can withhold funding for illegal presidential actions or initiate impeachment and the conviction of a lawbreaking president. However, when Congress prioritizes loyalty to the president over its constitutional duty to defend the separation of powers, the system fails. Failure shifts society from one governed by a stable legal system to one in which citizens are left to the mercy of those in power.
The book argues that over the past half-century, presidents from both parties have gained power as Congress has quietly ceded its authority. Executive orders, emergency declarations, administrative mandates, undeclared wars, and the recent move to State Capitalism are replacing the Constitution’s lawmaking and oversight structure. When Congress fails to check executive power, it is not just a political shift but a breach of its fiduciary duty to the institution it serves. Exercising its constitutional duties is essential if Congress is to protect our liberty.
Congress: An Irrelevant Institution or Guardian of the Republic sounds the alarm that when Congress provides political support for presidential overreach, it is not supporting a political leader; it is authorizing a slow march toward authoritarianism. Every time a president claims new powers through emergency declarations, executive orders, or regulatory trickery, Congress gives up authority the Constitution never meant for it to lose.
The book’s purpose is to strongly urge members of Congress to faithfully exercise their fiduciary duties to the institution of Congress and to use those powers to restrain presidential overreach. Members of Congress are not just politicians; they are guardians of the Constitution. They must defend the separation of powers, regardless of party or president. Congress holds all necessary powers—legislative, investigative, spending, taxing, and impeachment—to fulfill its constitutional obligations. However, what it needs is the will to act.
The book does not dwell in despair; it urges Congress to show civic courage now. If Congress falls short, voters must elect new representatives, fiduciaries who will defend the separation of powers and the institution of Congress. By serving as fiduciaries, Congress will be the Guardian of the Republic.
William L. Kovacs served as senior vice president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and chief counsel to a congressional committee. His books include: Congress: An Irrelevant Institution or Guardian of the Republic, which received three-five star editorial reviews, Reform the Kakistocracy, the recipient of the 2021 Independent Press Award for Social/Political Change, and Devolution of Power: Rolling Back the Federal State to Preserve the Republic, which received five stars from Readers’ Favorite. He can be contacted at wlk@ReformTheKakistocracy.com
