The Constitution of the United States of America was written in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the summer of 1787. The Bill of Rights was added in 1791. It is this document that created America as we know it. It is this document that has held our nation together for over two centuries. It is this document that, as a newly minted lawyer, this writer raised his right hand and swore an oath to uphold, protect, and defend. It is this document that is now being shredded by our current president, Barack Hussein Obama. While it’s true that many presidents from both parties have violated the Constitution in the past, no one has done a more masterful job of shredding it than President Barack Obama. This magnificent document that patriots have given their lives to protect is now being torn to pieces. Who will save the Constitution?

It would require a book to go through all the ways in which Barack Obama is shredding the Constitution but let’s focus on just his latest, and arguably most egregious, assault on the Constitution – the same Constitution he supposedly swore to protect and defend. With the stroke of his pen last December Obama claimed the right to completely defy federal immigration law and to grant legal status and work permits to five million illegal immigrants – a stunning usurpation of the lawmaking role of Congress. Obama himself is on record, numerous times, firmly declaring that he has no power to alter federal immigration laws on his own. His own words condemn him. Obama clearly and unequivocally said he did not have the constitutional authority to do what he did last December. And yet he did it anyway. This is a man who spits in the face of congress, acts more like a tyrant than a president, and makes a mockery of the doctrine of separation of powers. He is slowly but surely destroying what is left of our Constitution.

What consequences has he faced? What actions has congress taken to reassert their rightful lawmaking authority? The almost unconditional surrender of the legislative branch to this tyrannical action of the executive branch is shocking. While a handful of Democrats in the Senate expressed concerns about Obama’s executive action, when push came to shove not a single Democrat broke with Obama to take a stand on principle. They are thus complicit in Obama’s shredding of our Constitution. One would have imagined that at least a few Democrats would have put principle over party but alas, not a single one did. They’re a disgrace, the whole lot of them – a total, unmitigated, disgrace.

What about Republicans? They won an historic landslide election last November and they assured us that they would ride in like the cavalry to the rescue. And yet, what have they done except talk and bluster? The only thing they have done is surrender and let Obama get away with his lawlessness and his destruction of our Constitution. They promised they would not fund his unconstitutional executive order and then many of them went back on their word and capitulated to Obama. 

In a sane world, what Obama did last December should have been the last straw. Instead of just surrendering, Republicans could have done a number of things. They could have used the power of the purse to deny all funding for his lawlessness. They could have made it known that any and all judicial nominees would be blocked unless they were willing to repudiate Obama’s unconstitutional actions. Last but not least, they could have made it known that, should these other steps not work, impeachment would be on the table and seriously considered.

When push came to shove the Republican leadership did none of these things. Instead they capitulated faster than a French army on a battlefield. They’re pathetic. Glen Beck recently said he is through with the Republican Party and who can blame him? We need leaders, not cowards. Who will save the Constitution? The Democrats who are shredding it? The Republican establishment who stand idly by as it happens? It looks like there is only one group who is truly ready and willing to save the Constitution and that’s the Tea Party. One thing is clear. If we are to stop Obama and save what’s left of our Constitution the Republican Party is going to have to start drinking a hell of a lot more tea.

Timothy Rosen is an attorney and a professor at Queens College where he teaches courses on law and ethics.