What if Trump Just Ignores the Courts?
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Why is the Trump administration facing court challenges?
I think we're beginning to move into the next phase of this Donald Trump term. Remember what Yuval Levin said in our episode last week. There's a rhythm to the presidency. Presidents begin their terms by unleashing their plans. For weeks and maybe months, the world is responding to them. They set the pace of events. But soon, because they have exhausted what they can do unilaterally, or because they begin facing events and actors they do not control, or because of the very things they have done begin creating uncontrollable backlash, they must begin responding to the world. Donald Trump's second term began at, remember Steve Bannon's term here, muzzle velocity. They acted and the world watched, its mouth agape. But actions create reactions and we're beginning to see them and to see how the Trump administration responds to those reactions. Trump delayed his tariffs after markets shuttered. So far, we are not seeing mass deportations.
We're seeing immigration arrests running at roughly Obama era levels, but being marketed and conducted with a gleeful cruelty. And we are now seeing the courts respond.
Tonight, a federal judge temporarily blocking President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship, calling it blatantly unconstitutional. Tonight, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from transferring three transgender women into a men's prison.
A temporary block on Trump's order to freeze federal grants and loans.
Temporarily blocking its buyout offer for federal employees. Is also pumping the brakes on Trump and Musk's plans to dismantle USAID.
The federal judge blocking Elon Musk's Department of Government efficiency from accessing sensitive Treasury Department records. I'm recording this on Monday, February 10th. All of this is moving extraordinarily fast. By the time you hear it, some of it may have changed. These freezes are not the final word. There are pause on the administration's actions while those actions are being litigated. So far, the Trump administration is largely abiding by the court orders. If they began simply saying the court's authority is illegitimate, that would throw American politics into a genuine constitutional crisis. Can the president simply ignore the courts? Can he decide for himself what his powers are? And what can or will the courts do if he tries? Over the weekend, Vice President J.D.
Vance suggested the administration might try just that, writing on X that, quote, "...judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power." That word legitimate is doing all the work in Vance's tweet. Who decides what the executive's legitimate power is? Typically, the courts. Vance is suggesting that it should be the president himself. That also seems to be Trump's view.
Then I have an article, too, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president, but I don't even talk about that.
We don't yet know what Vance is really doing here. We don't know if he's carrying out a broader strategy that is coordinated with the administration or just freelancing on Twitter. We don't know if he's signaling an imminent constitutional crisis or just trying to make himself look tough to the MAGA faithful or useful to Elon Musk. Is he trying to influence the Supreme Court's ultimate rulings by telegraphing that if they rule against Trump too often, that the Trump administration will defy them and try to show the limits of their power? Nice judicial review you got there. Shame if something should happen to it. On Friday, I spoke with Quinta Jurecic, a senior editor at Lawfare and a fellow at the Brookings Institution, about the fight that it was already clear that Trump was bracing for with the courts. And more broadly, the ways in which his actions are creating reactions throughout the government and even throughout society. And then over the weekend, Vance sent that tweet.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
Why is the Trump administration facing court challenges?
0:42–49:06
2
What are the potential consequences if Trump ignores court orders?
49:06–1:26:08
3
How has the Trump administration's approach changed in its second term?
1:26:08–1:32:26
4
What legal and constitutional issues arise from Trump's executive actions?
1:32:26–1:34:22