Barack Obama Quotes

President Obama seems to understand the Constitution as a 'set of suggestions.'

The irony is that [Barack] Obama was a law professor at the University of Chicago. He would, most of all, know that what he is doing weakens the Constitution.

That is the financial disclosures that is what's required by law, that's Donald Trump [done]. It's in the constitution. The president-elect hasn't even been sworn in yet. So, all this flailing about how he's done everything wrong it's a little premature at best.

The Emoluments section shares with the Constitution. That's not a law that Congress could change or the president could ignore.

I think [Donald Trump] does understand that. We talked a great deal about the separation on power and the constitution. And we're very excited about what he's doing because what he's doing is pulling back what we see as unconstitutional executive actions from the past presidents.

Under our Constitution, presidents have something called 'veto power.

We have a president for whom English is a second language. He's like 'We have to get rid of dictators,' but he's pretty much one himself.

I am hesitant to say this about [Barack] Obama. Obama is a bad man in terms of the Constitution.

This isn’t hyperbole to say that we are staring the death of democracy in the eyes, right now. The centerpiece of our democracy is that we observe court rulings. Criminal court rulings, civil court rulings and constitutional court rulings. No one is above the law. And whether we like it or not, the courts interpret the law. If the President of the United States says, ‘You know what, I don’t care what the courts say, I’m going to do whatever the hell I want,’ that’s essentially the end of the rule of law,” he declared. “Because if the President isn’t bound by our laws and the Constitution, then why would anybody else be bound by our laws and the Constitution? …. If they were to openly declare that because they disagree with, for instance, a court’s order to reopen USAID, or to get Elon Musk out of the Treasury Department, simply because on the merits, they disagree with the court’s ruling, then you are clearly in the most serious constitutional crisis.

Our Constitution wisely assigns both joint and separate roles to each branch of the government; and a President and a Congress who hold each other in mutual respect will neither permit nor attempt any trespass.

Some have argued that the President is required to get permission from a federal court before taking action against a United States citizen who is a senior operational leader of al Qaeda or associated forces. This is simply not accurate. 'Due process' and 'judicial process' are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.

It is ridiculous to sue the president on a Wednesday because he oversteps the law, as he has done a dozen times illegally and unconstitutionally, and then on a Thursday say that he should overstep the law, contradict the law that passed in 2008 and deal with this himself.

When the president acts in absence of a congressional grant of authority, he can rely only upon his own independent powers. When the president takes measures incompatible with the express or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb.

President Obama is a president so weak that he makes Jimmy Carter look strong.

You don't have to be smart to act - look at the outgoing president of the United States.

Every president since George Washington has respected this clause in the Constitution. We want to avoid that Constitutional potential crisis. And the way to do it is for Donald Trump - it's not about him.

I think, of the kind of erratic behavior that many of us feared once Trump came into office. And I think you're seeing evidence of that, even though, you know, some of the worst-case scenarios that we imagined have not yet, mercifully, come to pass. I mean, for example, he has not destroyed NATO. He has not launched a trade war with China. He has not lifted sanctions on Russia. In all those cases, in part, because his hands had been tied. And of course, it's only a year in, so he's still got time to go.

The fact is that knowledge about the Constitution and the Court is not something that is handed down through the gene pool; every generation has to learn it. And I'm not sure the recent generations have done that good a job of learning about it.

Donald Trump is an embarrassment to our nation. I mean, every single day you see something else that is an embarrassment to our nation. We can't allow that to happen, because it really is an affront on our democracy and we really do need to move forward.

We will submit legislation to the United States Senate which will...authorize the Congress to undertake judicial review of those signing statements with the view to having the president's acts declared unconstitutional.

I have a great deal of concern for any president and the amount of power they accumulate versus congress. I'm a stickler about the idea of separation of powers.

You cant just be against the president.

That text is known to them that have the patience to read it, possibly one one-hundredth of one percent of the denizens. They forget it, all save a few Western states. I think somebody in Dakota once read it. The Constitution.

When a president speaks that usually means a lot.

I don't want to commit myself in advocating a definite republican constitution which will get bogged down with the question of who would elect the President and when.