Trump Administration Faces Court Showdown Over Executive Orders:-
We expect to see President Trump in the Oval Office for the first time today as a federal judge also for the first time is now accusing the Trump administration of straight up ignoring a court order a move that could set up a high stakes Showdown an existential constitutional Showdown perhaps between the executive and judicial branches of the government and the judge laid out kind of a warning shot saying people who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk criminal contempt keep in mind how the last 21 days have gone down a political Blitz from president Trump moving fast to do exactly what he said he would do on the campaign Trail .
Trump Administration’s Swift Action on Executive Orders:-
In their first 100 days so he’s moving fast but the courts are too look at that so-called buyout package those deferred resignations for federal workers that is on pause for now as a judge hears arguments on what to do next with that the administration’s effort to slash the us a Workforce that’s paused a move to get political appointees and special government employees access to the treasury Department’s sensitive and confidential information that is temporarily blocked the executive order to end Birthright citizenship also blocked and now some new signals from the executive branch that’s the president and the vice president that they are not only not happy with those Court decisions but that in the words of Vice President Vance judges are not allowed to control the executives legitimate power when a president can’t look for fraud and waste and abuse we don’t have a country anymore no judge should frankly be allowed to make that kind of a decision is a disgrace.
Now legal Scholars and critics of the White House warning of the possibility of a constitutional crisis as the Trump Administration moves to fundamentally reshape the government Laura Jarrett is covering the legal angle on this but want to begin with Aaron Gilchrist who is live for us now in Washington talk us through what we have seen most recently Aaron because the White House has pushed hard over the course of the last two plus weeks to try to get done what it wants to do yeah you’re absolutely right now we’re looking at this most recent Court decision where this judge in Rhode Island has said that the administration as you noted ignored uh a court order .
Legal Challenges to Trump’s Executive Orders Intensify:-
Different programs uh here in the United States 22 States challenged that executive order and a judge said all right pause let’s hold off on freezing that money until we can look at this case more closely the states in the last few days presented some evidence to the judge he said that showed that some cases of of funds being frozen improperly had Arisen and that there was evidence of that uh the doj argued back and said that they didn’t believe the order carried some of those covered rather some of those frozen funds the judge .
White House Responds to Legal Setbacks with Confidence:-
Now that this White House is facing dozens of challenges to some of these executive orders and actions and memos that President Trump has signed in the last few weeks and in so as you noted so many of those cases the judges said the judges have paused some of those actions but it does seem as though the actions will continue hie what are you hearing about what’s.
White House to Continue Pursuing Executive Orders:-
Next from the White House on the legal front here they have said all along uh over the course of the last couple of weeks whenever any legal issues or legal challenges have come up the administration said in so many words we are confident that we will ultimately Prevail is that the same tone you’re hearing now about some of these issues that is that is the the prevailing thinking here in each of these cases obviously the Department of Justice on behalf of the White House behalf of the president is fighting uh all of these challenges that have popped up in court and we heard from the president himself saying that these some of the judge decisions these temporary decisions that the judges have made .
About the executive power there’s some debate about what whether that is the the interpretation that people should walk away with from that post at the same time hie you noted that the president is set to sign more executive orders in the next few minutes here we’ll we’ll have a tape playback of that but all signs are that it’s Full Speed Ahead for the Trump Administration to be there in a couple of minutes when the president does do some more of these signings right typically these have turned into almost like impromptu small news conferences as we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks yeah you’re right typically an executive order is not something that draws a lot of fanfare this was supposed to be a closed press we weren’t supposed to have access to this signing that changed at some point.
Legal Experts Debate Consequences of Ignoring Court Orders:-
Outside the White House this is not going to be the last time we talked today I know Ain thank you let me bring in our legal correspondent Laura Jarrett so Lauren Laura here’s the thing there are um things that the white that the Trump Administration could legitimately do if they do not like a Court ruling right like they could appeal absolutely and the doj has signal that they will continue to do that they’ve already done that in some cases and and we should understand here it to get sued happens all the time that in in itself is not breaking news what’s so unusual here that want to underscore what Aaron said is the idea that the Trump Administration would not follow through on a judge’s order.
What Happens If Trump Ignores Court Rulings?:-
Now they could say sorry our bad we thought the order didn’t cover it but if they continue now not to release the federal funds after the judge has told them that they are violating a court order that’s when the rubber starts to meet the road think that’s why you hear all these questions and all of this sort of uh you know worry about constitutional crisis when you about that what that means is one branch telling another Branch go take a hike that’s what that means now we haven’t seen that yet but that’s the worry so without listen some of this is necessarily hypothetical .
Speculation but what happens if in fact the Trump Administration does continue to not release that funding well so then the plains would have to go back these Democratic Le States and groups would have to go back and say to the judge judge remember when you told them they weren’t following the order they still aren’t doing it and then it gets interesting to think about what the judge wants to do there because criminal contempt is not something you see very often it does happen when people don’t follow court orders but then it’s like who’s going to inforce that hie not this doj right they’re not going to prosecute a criminal contempt case and so that’s when you start to see some really interesting uh questions arise and it just sort of underscores .
Precedent-Setting Concerns Raised by Rhode Island Case:-
Now for the Trump Administration to comply with what this judge has asked they need to do it immediately or the plaintiffs are going to run back in court and say that they’re not doing it they could also appeal the judge’s order and and they can go as far as they want to the Supreme Court hie but again at a certain point once the Supreme Court tells you uh you’re not following the law and they don’t follow it or if they win that BR in different territory it we’ve laid out a couple of the sort of legal issues that are facing some of the president’s more high-profile moves that he has made over the course of the last 21 days is there any sort of concern or thinking around precedent setting from this particular Rhode Island case that could extend to other cases or are these just so individualized that we’ve got to take them piece by piece they’re kind of all over the place and we should understand here that the temporary restraining orders that you’re seeing done are temporary for a reason they’re not supposed to last forever and so they’re supposed to be just maintaining the status quo the issue here is that judges are now extending them beyond the regular just 14 days and saying we think this is really legally problematic and so now we’re just going to put them on hold indefinitely and that’s why the Trump Administration.