OP-ED: Rep. Andy Biggs: James Comey needs a civics lesson

James Comey's recent novel demonstrates that Comey let his ego undermine the Constitution he was sworn to defend.

Comey is upset that he was fired. He is angry with the public for having the audacity to elect Donald Trump as president. He wanted revenge, and he wrote a tell-all book (for profit) to teach Trump a lesson.

Comey's dismissal from office followed a suspicious and highly questionable chain of events. Comey leaked government memos, some that may have contained classified material, to a friend with instructions to send the leaked info to the press. (Turns out this "friend" worked at the FBI, or more specifically, for Comey). He did this to get a special counsel appointed to investigate Trump. His deceit was rewarded with the appointment of a politically-motivated special counsel team and a book deal.

You don't need to read the book in order to find out the ending: James Comey's "higher loyalty" is to himself, not to the law or the Constitution.

Comey's manipulation follows a litany of stonewalling by career and political bureaucrats at the Justice Department to withhold information from Congress. For months, Congress has requested documents and answers from DOJ's leading officials into the mishandling of the Hillary Clinton investigation. We have sought to exercise our constitutional oversight over the DOJ in a number of matters — dating back to the Fast and Furious scandal from the Obama administration.

Without much exception, our efforts have been met with resistance. DOJ officials, regardless of party affiliation, have refused to hand over most of the requested material until they receive threats of contempt of Congress. Then, and only then, have they started to comply with their constitutional obligations.

Just recently, the Department of Justice missed another deadline to hand over the Comey memos to congressional investigators.

Therein lies the problem with Washington, D.C., and it goes beyond the Department of Justice and Comey: the constitutional jurisdictions of our three branches are hopelessly blurred.

There are three branches of government — the executive, legislative, and judicial. All three are constitutionally separate and co-equal. All three are intended to act as checks on each other if required.

The three branches have lost their constitutional constraints and their responsibilities have been blurred and confused. The executive branch usurped the legislative branch's authority to make law by legislating through executive order and regulation. The legislative branch is also to blame, by failing to take tough votes and passing bills that address America's challenges, leaving a vacuum to be filled by the other branches. The legislative branch has surrendered its constitutional autonomy to create law without much of a fight. The judicial branch has become highly politicized has well. Frequently, judges inflict their own political bias when deciding cases, instead of ensuring adherence to the Constitution.

When the government becomes too big to fail, suddenly departments and agencies also become too big to submit to their constitutional constraints. This is the calamity that has overtaken the Department of Justice and the FBI. Comey believes that he was too independent to answer to the commander in chief. DOJ officials don't want to recognize the constitutional oversight responsibilities exercised by Congress.

The insubordination by the DOJ and Comey did not develop overnight, nor is it limited to this one department. It has been brewing for years, but now it threatens to shatter complete confidence in our constitutional republic.

It's time to unblur the lines and restore the constitutional structure of our branches of government. We can start by teaching a civics lesson to Comey and DOJ officials.