IT’S PRESIDENT TRUMP VS. THE COURTS, as Democrats worry a “constitutional crisis” is on the horizon due to the growing tensions between the executive and judicial branches of government.
The Trump administration is the subject of more than 50 lawsuits touching on most of what the president has sought to enact either by executive action or through sharp cuts implemented by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump has flooded the zone in the first few weeks of his second term with dozens of executive orders. And the lawsuits to combat them have been coming at breakneck speed, so much so that judges are having a hard time keeping track and have been left flat-footed.
“It’s hard for me to keep up. I don’t know whether you have been able to keep up,” U.S. District Judge John Bates said Monday at a hearing about online health data scrubbed by the current administration.
Democrats fear Trump will ignore court efforts to restrain his administration, while Republicans argue the decisions are politically motivated judicial overreach.
The test case:
Federal Judge John J. McConnell Jr. accused the White House of defying his order to unfreeze all federal loans and grants that were paused by executive order.
“The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country,” McConnell wrote.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) immediately appealed the judge’s order to unfreeze the federal grants.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow “we’ve got our toes right on the edge of a constitutional crisis.”
“My view right now is the courts are where we are hanging on to our constitutional structure,” she said.
Republicans are pointing to the judge’s history of political donations to Democratic campaigns as evidence of bias.
Republicans have also cited a different judge’s order preventing Musk from accessing Treasury Department payment systems, arguing that the order was so broad it blocked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from the systems.
U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas clarified that ruling Tuesday, saying it does not apply to Bessent, but would remain in place for political appointees, such as Musk.
Vice President Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have accused the judicial branch of overreach in seeking to rein in Trump’s actions.
“I wish the courts would allow the executive and the legislative branches to work, but we’ll see how all that develops,” Johnson said.
Some Republicans are beginning to speak out over what they fear is a growing appetite by the Trump administration to flout the courts.
“The White House should comply with court rulings,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
“If you don’t like the ruling, you can appeal the ruling and you can follow that through,” she added. “But we are a nation of laws and it is not necessarily for you or I to be the final arbiter here. This is why we entrust the judiciary with this responsibility.”
