“The Supreme Court, in its first decision on President Trump’s use of executive power in his second term, ruled on Friday that he cannot, for now, remove a government lawyer who leads the watchdog agency that protects whistle-blowers,” the New York Times reports.
“But the court’s brief, unsigned order indicated that it may soon return to the issue, noting that a trial judge’s temporary restraining order shielding the lawyer, Hampton Dellinger, is set to expire next week.”
“A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out certain directives of the president to crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion – or DEI – programs,” CNN reports.
“US District Judge Adam Abelson said that the government could not freeze or cancel “equity-related” contracts, nor could it require recipients of grants to certify that their programs do not promote DEI.”
Politico: Judge blocks Trump’s effort to deter DEI programs.
“A federal judge delivered a stern warning to the Trump administration that it must abide by a court order to unfreeze foreign-aid funding, but he stopped short Thursday of holding administration officials in contempt of court for continuing to hold up some of the money,” Politico reports.
“In a seven-page order, U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali seemed troubled by complaints from aid groups that much of the funding remained on hold despite his Feb. 13 order suspending the blanket freeze put in place by the Trump administration.”
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“An appeals court will not allow the Trump administration to end birthright citizenship for certain children of immigrants, in a ruling that could propel the issue to the Supreme Court,” CNN reports.
“The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday declined an emergency Justice Department request that it lift the hold a Seattle judge had placed blocking implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order, after concluding the order ran afoul of the Constitution.”
Axios: Trump’s appeal on birthright citizenship order rejected by court.
“U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday appeared poised to reject an effort to immediately bar Elon Musk and his allies from accessing data or causing firings across a broad swath of the federal government,” Politico reports.
“The judge said an effort by Democrat-led states lacked enough concrete evidence to justify that extraordinary restriction.”
“The administration asked the Supreme Court on Sunday to clear the way for the president to fire the leader of an independent agency that investigates whistleblower reports filed by government workers — the first time President Donald Trump has appealed to the justices for help in his efforts to remake and seize greater control of the federal bureaucracy,” the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: “The administration’s emergency application asked the court to vacate a federal trial judge’s order temporarily reinstating Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel. Mr. Dellinger leads an independent agency charged with safeguarding government whistle-blowers and enforcing certain ethics laws.”
Politico: Fight over Trump’s firing of watchdog reaches Supreme Court.
“A federal appeals court on Saturday allowed the head of a government ethics watchdog agency, whom President Donald Trump fired last week, to stay on the job. It’s a decision that will likely tee up the fight over similar dismissals for the Supreme Court,” CNN reports.
“The appeals court decision let stand a restraining order that permits Hampton Dellinger to temporarily remain in his post as special counsel. Dellinger, who was serving a five-year term, was appointed by President Joe Biden.”
“A federal judge Thursday blocked parts of two executive orders issued by President Trump that collectively seek to restrict gender-affirming care,” The Hill reports.
“U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson at the conclusion of a hearing found a group of transgender teens and LGBTQ organizations that sued were likely to prevail on all of their claims that the orders are without authority and amount to illegal and unconstitutional discrimination.”
Bill Scher: “The judiciary is able to exercise any power at all to check Trump because in 2021 and 2022, when Democrats controlled the White House and Congress, they resisted calls to pack the Supreme Court.”
“Suppose Democrats had succumbed to the temptation, which would have required abolishing the filibuster to ram through a partisan court-packing bill. In that case, the first thing the current Republican trifecta would have done is pass legislation along party lines to gut the entire judiciary. Every level would have been packed to negate any power held by judges untethered to Trump.”
“All constitutional guardrails would have been eradicated. Then, Trump would have gotten to work issuing executive orders without regard to the Constitution or the law, and no one would have been able to stop him.”
“Every one of President Trump’s most sweeping executive orders is now being challenged in court by multiple lawsuits,” Axios reports.
“They’re setting the stage for historic Supreme Court showdowns that could test Trump’s push to remake the federal government — and increase his power.”
“They also could provide roadmaps for how to stop him.”
Politico: “On Monday alone, six judges took steps to rein in the new president. More emergency orders are expected Tuesday and later this week. They follow nine other orders in the previous two weeks abruptly halting some of Trump’s aggressive executive actions, at times warning that they flagrantly violate federal laws and the Constitution.”
“The escalating confrontation between the president and the courts is riling Trump and his allies…”
“The Justice Department, meanwhile, has insisted the administration is scrupulously abiding by the orders even as the department calls them ‘impermissible’ and even ‘anti-constitutional.’ The White House, too, has said Musk’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ is following every court order ‘to a T.'”
A federal judge ruled the FBI must disclose more information about Donald Trump’s classified documents case, Politico reports.
Interestingly, the judge noted that while the now dropped charges eliminated Trump’s criminal exposure, the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling makes him more susceptible to public scrutiny.
Jonathan Chait: “The United States is sleepwalking into a constitutional crisis. Not only has the Trump administration seized for itself extraconstitutional powers, but yesterday, it raised the specter that, should the courts apply the text of the Constitution and negate its plans, it will simply ignore them…”
“Donald Trump is unilaterally declaring the right to ignore spending levels set by Congress, and to eliminate agencies that Congress voted to create. What makes this demand so astonishing is that Trump could persuade Congress, which he commands in personality-cult style, to follow his demands. Republicans presently control both houses of Congress, and any agency that Congress established, it can also cut or eliminate.”
“Yet Trump refuses to even try to pass his plan democratically. And as courts have stepped in to halt his efforts to ignore the law, he is now threatening to ignore them too.”
Earlier for members: What If Trump Ignores the Courts?
“A third federal judge indefinitely blocked President Trump’s executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, dealing another stark blow to the controversial directive,” The Hill reports.
Vice President J.D. Vance suggested Sunday courts “aren’t allowed” to overrule President Donald Trump and his executive orders, Forbes reports.
Said Vance, on X: “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
Vance also shared a post from legal scholar Adrian Vermeule, who claimed: “Judicial interference with legitimate acts of state, especially the internal functioning of a co-equal branch, is a violation of the separation of powers.”
Elon Musk is calling for the impeachment of the federal judge who made a decision early Saturday morning that the Treasury Department should block access to anyone “other than civil servants with a need for access to perform their job duties” from its payment systems, The Hill reports.
“More than 40 lawsuits filed in recent days by state attorneys general, unions and nonprofits seek to erect a bulwark in the federal courts against President Trump’s blitzkrieg of executive actions that have upended much of the federal government and challenged the Constitution’s system of checks and balances,” the New York Times reports.
“Unlike the opening of Mr. Trump’s first term in 2017, little significant resistance to his second term has arisen in the streets, the halls of Congress or within his own Republican Party. For now at least, lawyers say, the judicial branch may be it.”
“The multipronged legal pushback has already yielded quick — if potentially fleeting — results.”
Politico: As Trump steamrolls Washington, courts flex their power to slow him down.
“President Trump’s effort to drastically reshape the federal government by slashing payrolls, cutting grant programs and shuttering some agencies has run headlong into a host of lawsuits, with judges pumping the brakes on many of the initiatives,” the New York Times reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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