What Happens to the U.S. when Trump Ignores the Court
“Donald Trump Ignoring Court Order Is ‘Doomsday Scenario,'” (Newsweek)
SUMMARY: President Donald Trump’s deportation of Venezuelan migrants may have violated a direct court order, leading to what the FBI’s former general counsel, Andrew Weissmann, has called a potential “doomsday scenario.”
Speaking on MSNBC, Weissman said: “The doomsday scenario for this country is the idea that you would just ignore a court order. At that point, there is no rule of law in this country. You’re a law of the jungle. So, that’s a thing to keep an eye on as to whether that in fact happened here.”
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg demanded the Trump administration halt the removal of 250 mainly Venezuelan people accused of being gang members from the United States.
The Trump administration has said they did not defy Boasberg’s orders because his order to turn the planes around was not in writing. Additionally, they said that two planes were already in the air, meaning they were not in U.S. airspace despite carrying out U.S. commands.
Kareem’s Take: You might think that calling this a “doomsday scenario” is sky-is-falling hyperbole. But I think he’s right. When the President of the United States and everyone in his administration feel free to ignore the judiciary branch of the government, then there is no law. They are declaring that whatever they do is legal because they are doing it. Screw the Constitution and hand me a crown.
Most of what Musk and Trump have done is being challenged in the courts with the result of injunctions halting some of the proceedings because they were done illegally. Both have responded by seeking to have all the judges who disagree with them impeached. Trump was especially angry at Judge James E. Boasberg who has questioned administration attorneys for deliberately ignoring his order to cease the deportation of Venezuelans that the administration claimed were gang members. (The more information we get, the more we realize they weren’t all gang members.) Naturally, instead of strong legal arguments, Trump resorted to name-calling, referring to the judge as a “Radical Left Lunatic” and calling for his impeachment. “Radical Left” is the GOP version of “Yo Mama…”
This prompted a rare statement from Chief Justice John G. Roberts rejecting Trump’s efforts:
“Impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”
Mic drop.
Shortly after Roberts’ admonishment of Trump, Maryland District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to dismantle USAID were unconstitutional “in multiple ways.” In his 70-page ruling, the judge concluded that “these actions harmed not only Plaintiffs, but also the public interest, because they deprived the public’s elected representatives in Congress of their constitutional authority to decide whether, when, and how to close down an agency created by Congress.” He ordered USAID to be restored.
Doomsday vibes continued when U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the highest law enforcement official in the country, declared that she and Trump have no intention of following the law (because laws only apply to the suckers worth less than a billion dollars). Appearing on Fox, Bondi, also without actual legal justification, accused Judge Boasberg of “attempting to meddle in national security and foreign affairs, and he can’t do it.” She continued . . .
“What he’s done is an intrusion on the president’s authority. You know this one federal judge thinks he can control foreign policy for the entire country, and he cannot, and right now we’re evaluating our options.” She assured the Fox audience that the flights would continue, despite the judge’s decision. She’s trying to frame this as a fight for justice rather than what it really is: a power grab allowing the Executive Branch to override the Judicial and Legislative Branches. Some dictionaries would define that as a dictatorship.
Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan echoed Bondi on a different Fox show: “We are not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think. I don’t care what the left thinks. We’re coming.”
“I don’t care what the judges think” seems to be the motto of the administration, which continues Trump’s belief that not only is he above the law but is the law.
At what point will we the people put the survival of democracy above this administration’s lawless behavior? We’d better find that point soon because “Legal scholars say that the nation has reached a tipping point and that the right question is not whether there is a crisis, but rather how much damage it will cause.”
The rubber won’t hit the road until they refuse to obey a Supreme Court decision. Should that occur, the future of our governmental system will depend on the behavior of the Republican majorities in Congress. If they do not overrule the administration’s flouting of the law, we will be in a dictatorship. What could they do? Obviously they could impeach and remove whoever is involved with the refusal to obey the court. They could also cut off funding for the offices involved. Public outrage could fuel carnage at the polls. It’s doubtful the administration could prevent elections. Should they try, violence would be likely.
@Jack,
Or a military coup.
“The rubber won’t hit the road until they refuse to obey a Supreme Court decision.”
Or whatever. See the last panel in this comic:
Cartoon It Is Already Happening Here
@Joel; Or the military could refuse an unlawful order to stage a coup.
The Trumpanzees will not care. As long as brown people and liberals are made to suffer, democracy is a small price to pay.
Well do not look to the lawyers to save you–see the biggest law firms capitulating to Trump rather than risk their bottom line–sort of like the Afghanistan army switching sides when the Taliban offered money. Makes me sick to my stomach although I understand that it was the transactional lawyers at Paul Weiss who forced the issue, not the trial lawyers. Even the oligarchs should be worried where this ends up as defenestration has turned out to be legal in Russia and could well become legal here if that is what Mad King Donald wants.
Looks like Jenner &Block will stand its ground.
To understand a bit what our on-site lawyer is saying:
“Jenner and Block has been an active part of the legal challenges against Mr. Trump’s executive orders, including successfully securing a preliminary injunction against an order from the administration that reduced health care access for transgender youth.
That case is still pending in a Maryland-based federal court.
This executive order instructs officials to review and revoke firm members’ security clearance, identify any good, property, material and services provided by the federal government and stop providing them, terminate any government contracts that may exist with the law firm, and not hire any employees of the firm for any future federal government jobs.”
The Trump Executive Order from the nation of Trumpian “also singles out attorney Andrew Weissman, who worked on Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The executive order says he was re-hired at Jenner & Block, but the firm clarified that Weissman hasn’t worked there since 2021.
Interesting something for something (above) . . .
“Previously, the president issued and then rescinded an executive order targeting international law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Garrison & Wharton after it pledged to review its hiring practices and provide tens of millions of dollars in free legal services to support certain White House initiatives.”
Another (above) interesting comment . . .
“A spokesperson for Jenner & Block responded to the order in a statement, writing in part, “Today, we have been named in an Executive Order similar to one which has already been declared unconstitutional by a federal court. We remain focused on serving and safeguarding our clients’ interests with the dedication, integrity, and expertise that has defined our firm for more than one hundred years and will pursue all appropriate remedies.”
CBS News