'High stakes confrontation' between Trump and federal judges could soon break out: report
04 March
U.S. President Donald Trump walks before boarding Marine One at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 28, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
The lawsuits are mounting against President Donald Trump's administration, and now the White House is making plans to fight back as federal judges continue to hamstring Trump's agenda.
In a Tuesday article, the New York Times' Mattathias Schwartz and Zach Montague outlined the administration's strategy to push back against the judiciary when rulings don't go their way. And they highlighted that it could lead to "a high-stakes confrontation between two branches of government that the nation’s founders designed as co-equals: the executive and the judicial."
While the courts are pushing back, Trump is pushing back himself. Schwartz and Montague noted that several more recent rulings that were favorable to the administration could be interpreted as a signal to continue challenging the separation of branches.
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“The two-pronged defense of Trump’s actions may be an understandable reaction to the run of successes that the president’s opponents have had in court," they wrote, referring to those two prongs as attacks on individual judges and undermining the legitimacy of the courts.
Amongst the 100 challenges to Trump’s actions, 21 have received temporary restraining orders halting various executive actions from going into effect. This could mean that the tension between the executive and judicial branches may become even more fractious in the future.
As the Times reported: “Late Friday, Judge Lauren J. King blocked a Trump administration plan to cut funding for hospitals that offer gender-transition treatment for people under 19. In her ruling, Judge King said the two Trump administration orders at issue were 'a violation of the separation of powers.'"
This kind of lean-in pressure is likely not to stop anytime soon. As referenced by Judge King in her ruling: “Five of the judges who have ruled against the White House were nominated by Republican presidents, one by Mr. Trump himself.”
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In addition to King's ruling, U.S. District Judge Judge John D. Bates recently ‘ordered administration officials to sit for depositions on centibillionaire Elon Musk’s "wholesale firing of federal workers and to turn over documents to a coalition of unions suing to stop them.” However, the White House do not seem fazed by the rulings or their ability to circumvent protocols and respect for the branches. Last month he quoted Napoleon Bonaparte on his Truth Social platform, writing: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law."
Click here to read the Times' report in full (subscription required).