Trump bristles at the courts as White House pushes executive power
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump called a federal judge's ruling "a disgrace." Elon Musk, whose DOGE staffers were denied access to Treasury Department computer systems, said the judge should be impeached. Vice President J.D. Vance said judges had no authority to limit a president's "legitimate power."
These harsh reactions to an adverse decision have led some Democrats and legal experts to voice concerns the Trump administration may ignore unwelcome federal court decisions. The concerns come after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned in December against members of both parties defying court rulings.
The battle over limits on executive power coincides with Trump's attempts to shrink the federal government and change longstanding policies over issues such as immigration. With Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, opponents of Trump’s policies have few avenues outside of the courts to fight back.Trump told reporters Sunday on Air Force One the rulings could still be overturned on appeal. He previously voiced optimism that the Supreme Court would side with him in ending birthright citizenship for children born to parents who are not legally authorized to be in the country.
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But Trump and other officials were particularly critical of U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer's Saturday decision in New York denying Musk's Department of Government Efficiency access to the Treasury Department's confidential central payment system. Trump contends his proxies must be allowed to hunt for waste, fraud and abuse within the executive branch.
“We’re very disappointed with the judges that would make such a ruling,” Trump said. “No judge should frankly be allowed to make that kind of a decision. It’s a disgrace.”
Disputes over that ruling and others could lead to a constitutional showdown between the Trump administration and the judiciary that redefines limits on executive power, according to some Democrats and legal experts.
"The separation of powers is the foundation of democracy and individual liberty," Liz Gotein, a legal expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, said in a post on X. "There’s a word for political systems in which leaders decide which laws to follow and whether their own actions are legal: dictatorships."
Concerns for judicial independence
Trump opened his administration with a flurry of executive actions that advocacy groups and some state attorneys general have challenged in federal courts. Judges have blocked Trump from restricting birthright citizenship, a buyout offer to federal workers who agree to resign by Sept. 30 and a temporary freeze on federal grants.
Trump has vowed to appeal at least some of the decisions and said there is plenty of time for better rulings.
Disputes over federal court decisions come at a time when Roberts, who serves as head of the federal judiciary, has warned that judges must remain independent of the other two branches of government.
“Within the past few years, however, elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” Roberts wrote Dec. 31 in his report on the judiciary ? without citing examples. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected.”
Trump officials slam New York judge
Several Trump administration officials criticized Engelmayer’s decision Sunday.
Vance said a judge couldn’t tell a general how to conduct a military operation. “Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power,” Vance said in a post on X.
Musk responded to Vance’s post with his own criticism.
“A corrupt judge protecting corruption,” Musk said in a post on X. “He needs to be impeached NOW!”
Stephen Miller, a White House deputy chief of staff, called the ruling unconstitutional on Fox News.
“This isn’t just unconstitutional,” Miller said. “That ruling is an assault on the very idea of democracy itself."
Critics defend the courts
Political rivals blasted Vance’s position. Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said in a post on X the “judiciary makes sure the executive follows the law” and “if you do, then you won’t have problems.”Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a post on X that “decisions about what is legal and illegal are made by courts of law. Not by the Vice President.”
Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said if the administration feels any of the rulings are setting unconstitutional limits on the executive, the recourse is to appeal.
“You don’t get to rage-quit the Republic just because you are losing,” Cheney said in a post on X. “That’s tyranny.”
Executive power vs. the courts
Another legal test is scheduled at 2 p.m. Monday, when U.S. District Judge George O'Toole in Boston will hear more arguments about the Trump administration's buyout offer to federal workers.
U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas in New York set another hearing at 2 p.m. Friday in the case over Musk’s access to the Treasury Department.
Steve Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University, said presidents can appeal adverse rulings rather than imply they shouldn't be followed.
"The way an executive branch that respects the rule of law objects to a district court ruling it doesn’t like is to *appeal* it, not to imply that the ruling just shouldn’t be followed," Vladeck said on X.
Gotein at the Brennan Center said the Trump administration appears to be gearing up to defy court orders. Courts, she said, will decide what is the “legitimate power” of the executive branch.
“The answer to that question is 100% settled and has been for 222 years, when the Supreme Court famously recognized that ‘It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is,’” Gotein said in a post on X.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump blasts court decisions targeting his executive actions