Mar.27

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Trump Has Broken the Law a Dozen Times Since Being Inaugurated

There have been almost 200 lawsuits against Donald Trump or his administration since he was inaugurated, and numerous cases have come before a judge already. In over a dozen cases so far, a judge has ruled that Trump definitely or probably broke the law. That is an astounding record for someone who took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Put in other terms, Trump has broken a law every 4 days. Here are some of the most flagrant examples:

• Deporting Immigrants: Trump ordered the deportation of immigrants from Venezuela whom he alleged are members of the Tren de Aragua gang, even though they haven't been charged with violating any U.S. laws. Trump cited the 1798 Alien Enemies Act as the basis for the deportation. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered Trump to stop the deportations because that law applies only to citizens of countries with which the U.S. is at war. The U.S. is not at war with Venezuela.
  
  
• Elon Musk: Trump has allowed Elon Musk to exercise the powers of an officer of the United States without having nominated him as one and without having the Senate confirm him. In a 68-page ruling U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang stated that Musk's closing USAID likely violated the U.S. Constitution in multiple ways because Trump has allowed a private citizen to exercise the powers of an officer of the United States, which he is not.
  
  
• USAID: In the same ruling, Chuang stated that another violation of the Constitution is allowing Trump and his co-president to dismantle USAID. He ruled that even an officer of the United States (which Musk is not) can't do that. Only Congress can create and terminate U.S. agencies. In an earlier ruling, a different federal judge, Amir Ali, said cutting funds to USAID violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
  
  
• Trans Soldiers: Trump has banned transgender soldiers from the military because he finds them disgusting. Or, at least, his base does. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes disagreed, and said the ban violates the Fourteen Amendment's equal protection clause.
  
  
• Birthright Citizenship: U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee in Washington State, has ruled that denying citizenship to anyone born in the U.S., other than children of foreign diplomats, tramples on the Constitution. Judge Joseph Laplante in New Hampshire made exactly the same ruling.
  
  
• Refugees: Trump withheld funding from the U.S. Refugee Assistance Program because he doesn't want any refugees coming to the U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead eviscerated that decision because Trump has no authority to refuse to spend money Congress has appropriated. There is even a specific law, The Impoundment Control Act of 1974, that says that if the president doesn't want to spend money Congress has appropriated, he can ask Congress if it is OK to refrain from spending it, but Congress has the final say. Trump didn't even try to follow the law.
  
  
• Firing Federal Employees: Elon Musk, with Trump's blessing, has been firing federal employees right and left, despite the Pendleton Act, which specifies the procedures that must be followed for firing a civil servant for malfeasance. Some of them have gone to court to challenge their firings. Other federal employees are protected by other laws. When Trump fired Susan Tsui Grundmann from the Federal Labor Relations Board in violation of the law creating the agency, she sued. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan ruled that Trump had unambiguously broken the law. In another case, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that Cathy Harris of the Merit Systems Protection Board could only be fired for malfeasance, and Trump didn't even allege that she had done anything wrong.
  
  
• Funding Freeze: Trump has repeatedly tried to impound funds for spending he didn't like. U.S. District Judge John McConnell ruled that Trump had no authority to do that. In another case, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan made an identical ruling.
  
  
• DEI: In one of his XOs, Trump required federal contractors to certify that they do not have any DEI programs. U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson ruled that this violates the contractors' First Amendment rights. Worse yet, Trump banned DEI on all the contracts the contractor had, including those not related to the government in any way.
  
  
• Websites: Trump ordered all federal agencies to scrub their websites of all mentions of gender identity. A group of doctors sued, saying they relied on some of those websites for giving patients information and for research purposes. Judge John Bates ruled that the order was illegal because it violated the Administrative Procedures Act.
  
  
• Transgender Prisoners: Yet another XO required moving three male-to-female transgender prisoners from female to male prisons. They sued. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that Trump exceeded his authority on that and didn't follow required procedures.
  
  
• Research Grants: All federal research grants and contracts provide overhead expenses for the hosting institution. For example, all grantees require office/lab space, computers, HR personnel to manage hires, accountants to verify expenses, and much more. The overhead is to cover these indirect costs not covered in the grants themselves. Trump does not like scientific research at all, so he unilaterally ignored all the previously signed contracts and decimated the overhead. There were lawsuits, naturally, and U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley wrote a 76-page opinion stating that no, the president cannot simply invalidate contracts the government has signed because he doesn't like them.

In short, multiple district judges have found Trump in violation of the law. All of these decisions will be appealed, of course, and many will eventually hit the Supreme Court. That's when we find out if the rule of law is still applicable in the U.S. In any event, if the Democrats capture the House in 2026, impeachment proceedings will probably start on Jan. 3, 2027, with some of these items being mentioned. (V)