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For many Americans on the right, President Donald Trump’s election came with a great sigh of relief. True conservatives, meanwhile, realize that President Trump is just as likely to abuse the Constitution as his predecessor.

That’s a point Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash, one of the nation’s most libertarian-leaning lawmakers, is working overtime to highlight.

The Wall Street Journal on Monday published a piece recognizing Amash’s efforts to check the Trump administration’s power.

From the newspaper:

Mr. Amash says his opposition is based on principle, as a libertarian concerned about government overreach and adherence to the Constitution. While many Republican lawmakers hold similar beliefs, Mr. Amash has been an especially outspoken proponent of smaller government, even on issues—such as reducing surveillance—where his views put him out of step with the more mainstream elements of the GOP.

It’s true that there is no shortage of Trump critics on the political left, and even from members of the GOP establishment like Sen. John McCain. But those critics are hitting the president on issues that have more to do with politics than preservation of the nation’s Constitution.

They’re mostly missing the point.

Trump is a sexist, racist with Russian sympathies grabs headlines; but the personal attacks are totally divorced from his very real ability to damage the nation’s constitutional protections.

The issue at hand is how willing a president is to work within the nation’s constitutionally-mandated balance of power.

“To me, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a Republican in the White House or a Democrat in the White House. I have a duty to defend liberty, defend the rule of law and protect the rights of all of my constituents,” Amash said.

And the congressman is backing that belief with action.

As WSJ notes:

When Mr. Trump suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations out of concerns about terrorism, Mr. Amash responded with a tweetstorm in which he called the executive order illegal. Immigrants with green cards, he said, cannot legally be banned on the basis of their nationality or place of birth. Mr. Trump’s order “overreaches and undermines our constitutional system,” Mr. Amash wrote at the time. After the travel ban caused chaos at airports, the administration said the order didn’t ban green card holders from entering the country. A draft of the revised rule makes this clear.

Again, it’s important to remember that the issue here goes beyond whether the president’s immigration orders were a good idea from the start. What matters is whether they’re constitutional.

When a federal court decided they should be examined further to ensure that they pass constitutional muster, Trump derided “this so-called judge” for the “ridiculous” ruling.

Amash suggested that the president “stop attacking the legitimacy of the judiciary.”

And he’s right. No matter how you feel about the president’s intentions, the checks and balances written into our unique system of government mean that when his actions are deemed questionable by some they should be examined.

Trump’s supporters, if they have any concern for the nation’s constitutional principles, would do well to follow Amash’s lead. That is, unless they’re willing to live with the same kind of dissonance experienced by anti-war liberals who pretended Obama wasn’t a wartime president for eight years.

It’s also worth remembering that Trump is only one month into what could potentially be a two term presidency. Trump could change his mind on all kinds of issues in that time— and he has in the past held positions opposite many of the positions he holds today.

“Lately, our leadership team seems to be going along with the president regardless of the situation,” Amash told WSJ. “It’s possible that over time the leadership team will recognize that things are getting out of hand and will try to restrain the president.”

This isn’t an indictment of Trump. It’s simply a reminder that no matter who is in the Oval Office, or what party controls Congress, government works better when its met with skepticism from a majority of its subjects.

Amash understands this.