Trump is hijacking our government. Thankfully, the courts are stopping him. | Opinion
Republicans in Congress seem happy to let President Donald Trump run wild with the Constitution.
The courts appear to be our last line of defense against President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the U.S. government. Thankfully, judges nationwide and across the political spectrum seem committed to doing their jobs; it's clear that Congress won't.
Less than a month into his second presidency, more than 40 lawsuits have been filed against a slew of Trump’s executive orders. Multiple rulings have already paused the president’s plans to end birthright citizenship, shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, move trans women into men’s prisons, and more.
Republicans aren’t too happy about the roadblocks keeping them from completely upending our democracy.
“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal,” Vice President JD Vance wrote on X. “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.”
Despite Vance’s whining, judicial intervention is part of America's healthy checks and balances system, something Republicans appear happy to ignore. I would be much more concerned if judges let Trump do whatever he wants, which is apparently what the GOP thinks should happen.
Trump has also said that he will appeal the rulings against him. He could argue these cases all the way up to the Supreme Court, to which he appointed three justices. I worry that these legal challenges are simply roadblocks, not actual deterrents to Trump's MAGA agenda.
Trump's birthright citizenship order is 'blatantly unconstitutional'
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante of New Hampshire became the third federal judge to rule against Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship.
Laplante, nominated to the federal court by then-President George W. Bush, joins Judges John Coughenour of Seattle and Deborah Boardman of Maryland in ruling against the president.
Coughenour, a Reagan appointee, called Trump’s executive order “blatantly unconstitutional.”
“The rule of law is, according to (Trump), something to navigate around or something ignored, whether that be for political or personal gain,” Coughenour said. “In this courtroom and under my watch the rule of law is a bright beacon, which I intend to follow.”
This is necessary.
A president does not have the singular authority to change the citizenship criteria as defined in the Constitution's 14th Amendment. The fact that Trump is even attempting this is an affront to American ideals.
Trump's attempt to hijack federal spending gets halted
Trump got hit with a second judicial ruling on Monday, this one about the administration’s federal employee buyout plans. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole, who had paused the buyout offer Thursday, issued a temporary restraining order. This time, the Boston federal judge said, the order would remain in place "until I respond to the issues presented."
Also on Monday, U.S. District Court Chief Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to continue funding federal programs after he froze it last month. Previously, D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Loren AliKhan had blocked the efforts to freeze trillions of dollars in federal spending.
Two federal judges, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Washington, D.C., and Paul Engelmayer of New York, have ruled against Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency accessing and sharing Treasury Department data.
Even Trump’s own appointees are ruling against his hostile takeover of the U.S. government. Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee in the U.S. District Court for D.C., paused the administration’s attempt to shut down the USAID.
Again, this is how government is supposed to work. No one is supposed to have absolute authority over the United States, not even the president. This is what should be happening to stave off some of the radical Republican agenda that seems to be getting shoved down our throats without any sense of law or connotational adherence.
Trump's transgender hate is also working through courts
Judges are also pausing some of the Trump administration’s attacks on transgender people. Last week, Reagan appointee U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth paused the moving of three incarcerated trans women to men’s prisons. Judge O’Toole did this for a transgender woman in Massachusetts last month.
There are also lawsuits filed against Trump related to other aspects of his challenges to transgender rights, including his ban on trans people serving in the military and his mandate to withhold federal funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care for people under 19.
Overall, it’s good that the U.S. legal system is working as it should to halt some of the most extreme aspects of Trump’s executive orders. Still, these are only delays.
Trump will appeal any decision made against him, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. I want to believe that the highest court in the land still operates independent of the Republican agenda. I just don’t think it is.
Republican lawmakers could also grow some backbone and oppose Trump's executive actions in Congress. They have the power to keep the president in check, especially with a majority in both chambers. Instead, they seem content to cede power to the president.
Follow Paste BN columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno