Welcome to The Fill From the Hill, a recurring political column where one University Times writer dissects the key political topics and controversies in the news, from domestic politics to international affairs. This week tackles a recent blunder by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and what plenary authority means. Despite my position, this column is not representative or a reflection of the opinions of the UT Staff nor the UT itself.
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In an interview with CNN, Stephen Miller, President Trump’s deputy chief of staff, froze up after mentioning “plenary authority.”
The Oct. 7 interview, which has spread across social media sites, featured Miller being interviewed by CNN anchor Boris Sanchez. In it, Sanchez asks Miller a question in regards to the president’s recent deployment of the National Guard to cities across the United States.
Miller’s response to this references Title 10 of the US Code, which sets out the basic outline of rules for the U.S. military. Miller tacked on a mention of “plenary authority,” after which he abruptly pauses as Sanchez checks to see what happened. Sanchez then sent the channel to a commercial break, after which the interview went back on the air and Miller clarified himself without any mention of plenary authority.
While CNN cut this out of their upload of the interview on YouTube, the clip was shared countless times across social media. Many users noted the pause, and speculated that Miller had perhaps misspoken and was being told to stop talking by some other administration officials through his earpiece.
According to the Legal Information Institute of Cornell’s Law School, “Plenary authority refers to power that is complete, comprehensive, and not subject to significant limitation. It denotes the full legal capacity to act on a matter without requiring additional approval or delegation.”
Miller has shown interest in attempting to expand presidential and state authority, with one post on X calling for the government to “dismantle terrorism and terror networks.”
This is not the first time that the Trump administration has tried to claim plenary authority over military use. The administration tried to use this as a defense in Newsom et al v. Trump, which was the suit that followed after Governor Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration over their deployment of the California National Guard during this summer’s ICE protests. The judge presiding over the case, Charles R. Breyer, rejected this claim and ordered that the National Guard be pulled from the city.
Now that the table is set, let’s get into our views on Miller’s statement.
Samuel Valencia: This is fucking terrifying.
A government official went on live television and blatantly told the American people of plans to control us, and then froze when he realized he fucked up. The worst part of this isn’t even the blatant abuse of power. It’s the fact that these kinds of things are just becoming the new normal in the United States.
Every day, Trump and his goons make new moves to dismantle our government, but this should be the clearest indicator to anyone who hasn’t truly caught on yet. This administration isn’t trying to protect you; it is trying to pacify and control you.
Since day one, this administration has been moving purely based on political vengeance and total control of the American government. Trump has always coveted power, but the closest he ever got to these levels was probably Jan. 6. Now, he isn’t even trying to hide it, and clearly that openness has reached every corner of his administration.
Trump’s efforts to control protests across the country in the name of “protecting the people” and making cities safer, but producing no evidence that these cities are in danger, is the first step into authoritarianism.
There are masked men kidnapping people off the street, armed law enforcement quelling protests, and the administration has just laid out its plans to truly occupy the country’s biggest cities in the public eye. These aren’t signs anymore, they are clearly laid plans that are being enacted slowly to try and make sure nobody catches on.
People can say “he can’t do that!” all they want, but the fact of the matter is, he is doing it, right now. We have to stand up to him, and stand up to him just as strongly as he and the rest of his administration are pushing against us.
Whether it’s politicians or political activists, way too many people are just throwing their hands up in the air and saying “there isn’t much we can do!” when that just isn’t true. To give up and allow this administration to enact its plans is to be fully okay with a dictatorship taking over the country.
Anyone who claims to love this country, Democrat or Republican, should be 100% aware of and make sure they are standing against this “plenary authority” bullshit.
For the party of law and order, as well as free speech, they sure are doing a hell of a job making sure that nobody can express themselves unless it is in support of their regime.
It’s a scary time to be an American citizen, because never in our nearly 250-year history has the government tried this hard to control the people. But this can be undone, and this can be counteracted; it just takes the right amount of pressure from the American people.
