President Donald Trump has been back in office as President for just about three months and in that time, he has made a ton of sweeping changes or threats of things he will change in a matter of weeks. For sure, all along, even when he was still in the midst of campaigning for a return to the White House, he wasn’t secretive about what many of his plans were for America if he got back in. Well, he’s back in office, and the changes and upheaval keep coming.
If you are paying attention to what’s happening in the news every day in Washington and the moves, decisions, and cuts that President Trump or his partner, Elon Musk, are making, you gotta know that there is growing concern that President Trump is acting more and more like a dictator every day. It seems that in his mind, what he says goes, and forget about what the courts say. So what gives and what rights and power does the President really have to overrule a Federal Judge?
According to the experts at CNN, any moves by the Trump administration to defy federal courts would immediately implicate profound constitutional questions about the separation of powers that have kept each branch of the government in check for centuries.
Further, CNN reports indicate the most likely action to force compliance would be judges holding an agency or official in civil or criminal contempt.
President Trump previously stated he would abide by court rulings while pursuing appeals through higher courts. However, the nation has witnessed how the current President can change his mind quickly.
Constitutional experts say the strongest deterrent against defying court orders would likely be political consequences.
Let me give you an example of concerns around President Trump ignoring a Judge’s ruling. Recent court orders slowing down or indefinitely blocking President Donald Trump’s policy blitz have raised concerns that the executive branch might openly flout the federal judiciary and prompted questions about how judges would respond.
Any decision by the administration to defy federal courts would immediately implicate profound constitutional questions about the separation of powers that have kept each branch of the government in check for centuries. That’s in large part because it would test the power of courts to enforce rulings that are supposed to be the final word.
Over this past weekend, things got even more contentious between Trump and the courts because Trump’s administration still moved forward with deporting hundreds of alleged gang members to El Salvador despite a federal Judge’s order that the 19th Century Alien Enemies Act could not be used.
As for President Trump, when asked about his decision to still do what he wanted to do, deporting alleged gang members from El Salvador who were here in America, he responded, “You have to speak to the lawyers about that.”
Legal experts say there are few options to force compliance with its pronouncements. Judges could hold an agency or official in civil or criminal contempt – but that’s about it.
Fears that the Trump administration might deliberately break into a pattern of not following judicial rulings with which it disagrees were amplified last month when a federal Judge in Rhode Island, for the second time, told the Trump administration it can’t cut off grant and loan payments after Democratic-led states complained that the administration wasn’t obeying the Judge’s previous court order.
For the moment, the Justice Department has taken the usual approach of appealing to a higher court on preliminary injunctions that have blocked various executive actions. The Alien Enemies Act has already been appealed to the D.C US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Asked at the White House last month whether he’ll comply with court rulings, Trump said that he will.
Other formal sanctions by a court, though grounded in a deep history, also come with a host of potential problems when applied to the executive branch. Should a Judge decide to pursue criminal contempt, for instance, it would need to be initiated by the Justice Department – meaning it’s highly unlikely given the President’s control over that department. The US Marshals Service (which enforces federal court orders) is also part of the Department of Justice.
Elie Honig, commentator and senior legal analyst for CNN, responds to JD Vance’s controversial post about Trump and the President not complying with court orders–while highly unusual, is not unprecedented. Back in the day, President Richard Nixon famously defied a court order to turn over White House tape recordings during the Watergate investigation. He ultimately did, but only after the Supreme Court ruled that he needed to hand them in.
I don’t know about you SCOOP Readers, but my neck is getting a little whiplash as I go back and forth from news station to news station, trying my darndest to stay abreast of all the changes, edicts, and everything else that Donald Trump has swirling around our nations’ capitol.
There’s one thing I know we can do and need to continue to do as American citizens, and that’s to be engaged in the political process. We can’t stop voting. We can’t stop caring about the future of our nation. It’s our civic duty to be involved and active in the concerns of our country. Start by being a registered voter, and on election dates, vote like your life depends on it because it does.
The next election in Pennsylvania is the Primary Election set for Tuesday, May 20. The deadline to register to vote if you want to participate in the May 20 election is May 5. My advice is don’t wait until the deadline day to get yourself registered to vote. Register to vote now and be prepared to vote on May 20. If you have any questions about voting in Philadelphia, call the city Commissioners office at 215-686-3462.
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