February 10, 2025
For the first time since President Trump took office a federal judge said that he and his administration are directly disobeying a federal court order and trump and his team must comply …like now. But did the vice president suggest that’s not going to happen? This is a much bigger deal than you think and I’m going to explain why in a second.
But first — this new order was issued today by the chief judge for the federal district court in Rhode Island in the case involving the president’s executive order that pauses trillions of dollars in federal funding for grants and loan programs here in the United States. Technically that order was rescinded one day after trump issued it – but the states attorneys general of 22 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit saying President Trump does not have the power to freeze funding that’s been appropriated by congress in a law. Well – judge McConnell issued a temporary restraining order in late January saying the trump administration needs to keep the funding flowing while this case plays out. But since then the states and d-c went back to judge McConnell saying the Trump administration is not complying his order and in fact – these attorneys general say despite the Trump administration – at least on paper—walking back the funding freeze– they’re seeing massive disruptions to their states Medicaid systems, funding for battery factories, and farmers and education programs – just to name a few. The Trump administration told judge McConnell in a filing on Sunday night they were not complying with his temporary restraining order in its entirety because they are trying to “root out fraud” and they didn’t believe the judge’s order covered everything they were trying to do. Well judge McConnell today made it very clear…his order is for everything. Judge McConnell said — 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. These pauses in funding violate the plain text of the TRO (temporary restraining order.” The judge’s original TRO said that Trump was likely overstepping his authority when he froze this funding. The judge went on to further clarify in today’s order – that the Trump administration must immediately restore the frozen funding until the court makes a final decision in this case, must immediately end any federal funding pause, and must comply with the plain text of the temporary restraining order.
But – this opens up a much bigger conversation about the separation of powers. And let’s not mince words here – over the last few weeks — we have all witnessed the Trump administration trying to push the boundaries of the executive’s power. But here’s what you need to understand — that is not uncommon. Lots of presidents when they come into office push their power boundaries to further their goals and to follow through on their campaign promises. This is not new. There was a lot of controversy over President Obama’s immigration policy that Republicans were furious about saying Obama was picking and choosing what laws he followed. In the end the Supreme Court sided with President Obama and said that his immigration policy was legal. President Biden did the same thing with student loans when he first came into office. The supreme court ultimately shot down his widespread forgiveness plan as unconstitutional – so he tried another way – as he was legally allowed to do. But those additional attempts were also stopped by the courts and he complied with those federal judge’s orders and in the end — he couldn’t fulfil that campaign promise of widespread student loan forgiveness.
So what’s unusual now — is the Vice President of the United States is suggesting – in writing that the judicial branch cannot control the executive’s legitimate power.” In essence saying the executive branch is more powerful than the judicial branch and perhaps that the executive branch may not comply with the orders from the judicial branch. Now – I want to be very clear here President Trump himself has not said this, vice president Vance did — but today – trump did suggest that no judge should be able to rule like McConnell did.
Look – we will have to see if the trump administration is going to ultimately comply with judge McConnell’s order on this funding freeze issue. But we are seeing this kind of thing play out over and over not just in judge McConnell’s court but in multiple courts throughout the country – these judges are blocking the Trump administration at almost every turn. This is a fight – no doubt that the Trump administration is absolutely going to take straight to the supreme court to determine how far the powers of the executive go?
Quickly — as you know – the constitution set our government up with three co-equal branches of government the legislative branch – which is congress – the judicial branch – which is the courts –and the executive branch – which is the president and his administration. The constitution gives each of those branches certain powers that it does not give the other branches. For example – the constitution specifically says congress has the power of the purse and it gives congress the power to make laws. It gives the executive branch the power to enforce the laws and it gives the judicial branch the power to interpret the laws. It also sets up mechanisms for each of the branches to check each other’s power. A president can veto a law passed by the entire congress – but congress can override that presidential veto, and the courts can declare a law passed by congress or an executive order written by the president is unconstitutional. The whole point of having these co-equal branches is so that one branch does not become more powerful than the others.
So it’s that last statement from the vice president’s tweet that says judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power that has a lot of people concerned. How is the vice president defining “legitimate?” Of course the president has legitimate power. The constitution says so. But the president is not a king. That was pretty clear in the constitution too. And to ensure that — the constitution absolutely says the judicial system is the sole branch that has the power to interpret the law to decide whether something is legal or not legal. There’s also a lot of questions about so-called “activist federal judges” both liberal and conservative and the very common practice by both red and blue states to basically judge shop to get the type of ruling they want. The bottom line is this — most legal scholars agree that the only way this fragile republic of ours is going to hold up is if all three branches of government respect the power and legitimacy of the other branch.
Read the Judge McConnell’s order here.
