Apr.07

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Federal Judges Are Running Out of Patience

Donald Trump keeps doing illegal things and the courts keep smacking him down. In some cases, the judge issues orders and Trump ignores them or drags his feet complying. We are getting to the point that the judges have had enough and the stakes may be going up soon. The first test will be when Trump openly refuses to obey a court order he doesn't like. Or, more likely, when someone in his administration does that. While a judge can't order the president to go to prison, a judge can find other people in his administration in contempt of court and either fine them or order them to prison.

That's when we find out whether the system still works. If it is a federal judge, the judge will have to use the U.S. Marshals service, which is controlled by AG Pam Bondi. If it is a state judge, state law enforcement will be asked to handle the job. So far most cases have been federal, but that could change as some of the things the administration is doing violate both federal and state law.

Here are three examples where the judge is fed up:

• James Boasberg: The issue here is the deportation of Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador even though none of them were even indicted, let alone convicted, for a crime in the U.S. Someone in the U.S. thought their tattoos indicated gang membership. D.C.'s chief judge, James Boasberg, ordered the flights to El Salvador to turn around and come back while they were in flight, but that didn't happen. Boasberg believes the administration simply ignored his order and he is now investigating to see who is responsible. The administration's lawyers are stonewalling him and his patience is running out.
  
  
• Paula Xinis: One of the people deported to El Salvador was Kilmar Abrego Garcia. There was no basis for his deportation. He has not been accused of any crime. He is a national of El Salvador but was granted protected status in the U.S. by an immigration judge in 2019. That should have been enough to prevent his deportation. He lives in Maryland with his American wife. Judge Paula Xinis ordered the government to get him back in the U.S. by midnight tonight. The government claims it can't do that because he is not in U.S. custody, even though it does admit he was deported due to an "administrative error." The government has a contract with El Salvador to store the deportees. This is a major source of income to the country and it is hard to imagine that El Salvador would refuse to return Abrego Garcia if the U.S. government asked. It certainly doesn't want to upset its cozy business arrangement with the U.S. Suppose Abrego Garcia is not back tomorrow—what will the judge do then? We may find out.
  
  
• John McConnell: Here the issue is Elon Musk freezing FEMA funds. This is impoundment and is illegal. U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island ordered the money Congress appropriated to be paid out. He ruled that FEMA has no discretion on this. When Congress has passed a law ordering funds to be spent in a certain way, it must be done as Congress directed. The government appealed McConnell's ruling and lost in the First Circuit. Multiple states are waiting for the money Congress appropriated but FEMA is not disbursing it. The administration is saying it is reviewing the cases. McConnell ruled that nothing in the law gives the administration the power to review anything. He said the president must faithfully execute the laws. If Trump continues to stall, McConnell could hold someone in contempt.
  

These are only three of the cases where the administration is stalling or trying to work around clear-cut court orders. We don't know what will happen if and when the government simply says: "We are not going to obey the court order because no one can make us do it." That could be true in a narrow sense, although the defendants in all the cases will try to get the Supreme Court to rule because the political consequences of Trump openly defying the Supreme Court would be much greater than defying a district judge. (V)