BY MICHELLE L. PRICE AND ZEKE MILLER
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Wednesday that court rulings going against the Trump administration are coming from “judicial activists” on the bench whose decisions amount to a “constitutional crisis.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the comments as she pushed back against critics of Republican President Donald Trump’s expansive actions slashing the government workforce and federal spending.
Video from The White House – fast forward to 4:50.
“We believe these judges are acting as judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law,” Leavitt said.
Trump’s moves in the first weeks of his second term to overhaul the federal government and fulfill his campaign promises have been met with more than 50 lawsuits, with judges blocking some of his administration’s moves at least temporarily. Top administration officials have responded by attacking the legitimacy of judicial oversight, one of the foundations of America’s democracy which is based on the separation of powers.
The focus on the courts has intensified as the other long-standing check on the presidency, the Congress, is Republican-controlled and has largely gone along with Trump’s unilateral actions, including his firing of government watchdogs.
[Continue reading below]When asked Wednesday if the White House believes the courts have the authority to issue nationwide injunctions to Trump’s orders, Leavitt said the rulings “have no basis in the law” and “have no grounds.” She said the White House would comply with the courts but believed the administration would “ultimately be vindicated.”
Judges have blocked, at least temporarily, his effort to end birthright citizenship, permit access to Treasury Department records by billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency and roll out a mass deferred resignation plan for federal workers.
“A corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached NOW!” Musk wrote about the judge in the Treasury Department case. Vice President JD Vance said Sunday on X, “ If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
As court cases pile up, questions have arisen about whether Trump, pushing to expand the limits of presidential power, would comply with court rulings.
Trump on Tuesday said he would, but suggested he would consider some kind of response to the judges and called their actions a “violation.”
“It seems hard to believe that a judge could say, ‘We don’t want you to do that.’ So maybe we have to look at the judges because that’s very serious, I think it’s a very serious violation,” Trump said.
Leavitt made clear that Trump’s team will also “seek every legal remedy to ultimately overturn these radical injunctions and ensure President Trump’s policies can be enacted,” she said.
Price reported from New York.
Disclaimer
The information contained in South Florida Reporter is for general information purposes only.
The South Florida Reporter assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the contents of the Service.
In no event shall the South Florida Reporter be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Service or the contents of the Service. The Company reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modifications to the contents of the Service at any time without prior notice.
The Company does not warrant that the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components
