'Cannot afford this': Expert demands courts ignore this key precedent in response to Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media on board Air Force One on the way to West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 13, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Legal analyst Marc Elias has said that the federal courts must drop the "presumption of regularity" with regard to President Donald Trump's administration because the country cannot afford it anymore.
During an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday, Elias said the "presumption of regularity is one of these norms that the United States cannot afford for to have" under a Trump presidency.
"It was a nice thing. It was a wonderful idea of civics. It was nice to think this about our leaders, but we cannot afford this," he said.
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Earlier this month, Elias wrote an op-ed for Democracy Docket, saying that Trump "literally seeks vengeance against his political opponents."
"He literally wants to send American citizens to foreign gulags," Elias said, calling the president an "autocrat who weaponizes the legal process to undermine the rule of law through his words and conduct."
In his Wednesday remarks, Elias went on to say that democracy in the U.S. "will not survive for the next three plus years, if judges have to bend over backwards to assume the best of intentions" from Trump's White House that is "trying to do the worst."
"He and his administration have forfeited the right to be believed or trusted," Elias said.
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Legal analysts have been raising concerns about Trump's conflict with the judiciary, warning that the administration's disregard for judges is steering the country toward a constitutional crisis.
The Guardian reported last Friday that some experts are even describing the Department of Justice (DoJ) under Attorney General Pam Bondi as Trump’s “personal law firm."
Former prosecutor Ty Cobb told the Guardian, “Never in history has DOJ broken so defiantly from respecting, as it’s obligated to do, the decisions of federal courts." Cobb was a counsel in the White House during Trump’s first term.
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