Leftist judges want to turn President Donald Trump into a president in name only.
Look at all the ways that individual judges have hamstrung the Trump administration. A district court judge recently blocked Trumpâs executive order removing transgender individuals from the military. Another judge ordered the Trump administration to send two men who are pretending to be women into a women’s prison. One federal judge ordered the administration to restore government webpages that promote the Leftâs transgender narrative.
A different district court judge stopped the Trump administration from disbanding the wasteful United States Agency for International Development. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appointed Jeremy Lewin to a high-level position in USAID. The judge later ruled that Lewin wasnât allowed to serve in that role.
Last weekend, another federal judge blocked the Trump administration from deporting illegal immigrant gang members. He even unsuccessfully attempted to force them to turn around flights that were already in the air. These examples are only the tip of the judicial overreach iceberg.
Now, all presidential administrations face lawsuits, but whatâs happening here is well beyond historical norms. In his four years in office, former President Joe Bidenâs administration received 14 federal injunctions. In less than two months, judges have already hit the Trump administration with more than that.
These rulings are an affront to the Constitution. Article II gives âexecutive powerâ to the president, who is also commander in chief of the military. Yet, according to some federal judges, the judiciary is in charge of the executive branchâs military policy, hiring, spending decisions, and deportation flights. The Trump administration canât even take down a website.
Contrast that judicial activism with what Alexander Hamilton laid out in Federalist 78.
âThe judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power,â he wrote. And âit can never attack with success either of the other two.â
But, Hamilton warned, while âliberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone,â it âwould have everything to fear from its union with either of the other departments.â
Thatâs what some district court judges are attempting to do. These unelected, unaccountable judges are attempting to upend the constitutional order.
Most people take it for granted that the executive and legislative branches will abide by judicial decisions. And despite Trumpâs social media bluster, his administration has been remarkably deferential to the judicial process in its actions. Thatâs likely in part due to a belief that higher courts, including the Supreme Court, will largely overrule these individual judges. Thatâs already happened in one case involving Trumpâs push to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion. Republicans in Congress are also working on potential solutions, such as requiring a three-judge panel to rule on injunctive relief.
The judiciary is more vulnerable than many activist judges seem to realize. As Hamilton wrote, the judiciary âmay truly be said to have neither force nor will, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.â
In other words, if Trump tells the court to enforce its own rulings, the court canât. It can only hope there would be a political price to pay for openly defying a court order.
Public support for the judiciary, however, could collapse quickly. The Left has been attacking it for years. Biden openly disregarded a Supreme Court decision on student loan forgiveness. Some Democrats pushed to pack the Supreme Court, while others have wrongly smeared conservative justices as corrupt.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts needs to stop rogue district court judges from violating the Constitutionâand quickly. If he doesnât, support from the right could evaporate quickly.
A diminished court isnât ideal, but neither is one that flagrantly violates the Constitution.
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