First, let’s everybody stop saying we’re “approaching” a constitutional crisis, or “risking” one, or whatever. It’s here. We’re smack in the middle of it.
Everyone’s looking to the courts to stop Trump, but Trump and his people have made it clear they’re ignoring the courts. It is the administration’s official policy that courts have no authority over presidents.
Lawyers for the Trump administration argued late Sunday that a court order blocking Elon Musk’s aides from entering the Treasury Department’s payment and data systems impinged on the president’s absolute powers over the executive branch, which they said the courts could not usurp.
This part is rich:
They argued that the order violated the Constitution by ignoring the separation of powers and severing the executive branch’s right to appoint its own employees. The restriction, they wrote, “draws an impermissible and anti-constitutional distinction” between civil servants and political appointees working in the Treasury Department.
“Separation of powers” only works one way with Trump; his way.
The filing followed warning shots over the weekend. Vice President JD Vance declared that the courts and judges were not allowed “to control the executive’s legitimate power,” although American courts have long engaged in the practice of judicial review.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump called the ruling by Judge Engelmayer a “disgrace” and said that “no judge should, frankly, be allowed to make that kind of a decision.”
Writing for The Atlantic, Jonathan Chait (yeah, I know, he’s wrong a lot) writes that Trump’s determination to simply govern by executive orders and whatever Musk feels like doing is especially remarkable considering Republicans control Congress, and Republicans in Congress have been entirely compliant to Trump’s demands (with the exception of the Matt Gaetz appointment). Trump could easily accomplish what he wants through the usual constitutional processes. He just doesn’t want to bother.
Just as Trump and Musk are refusing to submit their plans to a Congress that their party controls, they are at least toying with the notion of ignoring orders by a court they have shaped. The Supreme Court, which has final word on all constitutional disputes, has a two-to-one majority of Republican appointees. When Vance floated the idea of defying the courts in 2021, he was anticipating his party taking actions so indisputably illegal that not even friendly justices would swallow them. They are prepared to smash a system they control, simply because it won’t move at the frantic pace they demand. …
… Just this weekend, The WashingtonPost reported that the administration is asking candidates for national-security and law-enforcement positions to answer questions such as “Who were the ‘real patriots’ on Jan. 6? Who won the 2020 election?” and declining to offer jobs to those who fail to supply MAGA answers. Trump has sanctified the insurrection, has criminalized the prosecution of even its most violent activities, and is screening out anybody willing to question his belief that he is entitled to absolute power.
If you had predicted things like this before the election, most Republicans would have accused you of Trump derangement syndrome. Yet Republicans have barely uttered a peep of protest in the face of these actions.
Given his party’s near-total acquiescence in every previous step toward authoritarianism, perhaps Trump would not have to be crazy to take the next one. The entire administration is intoxicated with power. The crisis lies not in the structure of government so much as in the character of the party that runs it, which refuses to accept the idea that its defeat is ever legitimate or that its power has any limits.
Yet even Chait (who is wrong a lot) begins the essay by saying the U.S. is “sleepwalking into” a constitutional crisis, not that we’re already in one. I think some of these people are afraid to admit the system is breaking down as easily as it is breaking down. If Trump decides to just ignore the courts, who’s going to stop him and by what enforcement mechanism that Trump doesn’t control?
A federal judge on Monday said the White House has defied his order to release billions of dollars in federal grants, marking the first time a judge has expressly declared that the Trump White House was disobeying a judicial mandate.
The ruling by Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island federal court ordered Trump administration officials to comply with what he called “the plain text” of an edict he issued last month.
Judge McConnell’s ruling marked a step toward what could quickly evolve into a high-stakes showdown between the executive and judicial branches, a day after a social media post by Vice President JD Vance claimed that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” elevating the chance that the White House could provoke a constitutional crisis.
Already, more than 40 lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration, challenging Mr. Trump’s brazen moves that have included revoking birthright citizenship and giving Elon Musk’s teams access to sensitive Treasury Department payment systems. Judges have already ruled that many of these executive actions may violate existing statutes.
Maybe if Judge McConnell goes to D.C. and wags his finger sternly at Elon Musk, Elon will back down. Or not. See also The Courts Blocked Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze. Agencies Are Withholding Money Anyway. at ProPublica.
At the New York Times, Adam Liptak writes that Trump’s Actions Have Created a Constitutional Crisis, Scholars Say. So somebody’s saying it. One of the scholars interviewed said that while previous presidents have done unconstitutional things, this is the first time we’ve had a president who thinks the Constitution is meaningless.
So, yeah, it’s a crisis.