Trump: president v. judges

 

Trump faces his loyal opposition

President v. judges

Gordon L. Weil

 

A war has been going on within the federal government since the day Donald Trump returned to the presidency.  Last week, a major battle took place, and Trump lost.

The war is not between the president and Congress or the Supreme Court.   It’s waged between him and federal district court judges, even some he appointed.  It’s not about parties to cases; it is a direct confrontation between the judges and the president. 

Trump believes that his 2024 election victory gave him almost unlimited freedom of action.  Hundreds of federal cases have been filed in U.S. district courts challenging his assertion of authority, frequently expressed through a massive flood of executive orders.

Federal cases start in district courts.  They decide on both the facts and the law.   The judges make the key decisions that often determine their outcome.  Appeals courts, including the Supreme Court, may decide if the law was applied properly.

Speaking of presidential actions, President Nixon said, “when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal, by definition.”  Trump agrees, which amounts to saying that he is the law.  District courts often get to decide on its validity in practice.   If they decide against him, some of their decisions may have national implications.

This arrangement inevitably sets up possible confrontations between Trump’s Department of Justice and district courts in the cases that have been brought against the Trump administration all over the country.

Courts usually decide carefully, and that can take time.  They may suspend the Trump action while considering a case.  But he is impatient and often asks appeals courts to block the suspension. They may allow his order to go into effect for an extended period, intentionally restricting the role of the district court.  The DOJ also finds ways to delay proceedings.

When a district court decides against him, Trump frequently attacks the judge.  Even if he had appointed some of the judges whose decisions he dislikes, he may call them weak or misguided.  He claims others are political partisans or incompetents.

Top DOJ’s lawyers have previously worked for Trump when he was out of office.   As federal government representatives, they may transition to supporting him as president.  But judges have increasingly found the quality of DOJ legal work substandard and inconsistent with the rules they must follow.

Taken together, these situations have brought to the surface the rift between Trump and many judges.  While Congress, his executive branch and even the Supreme Court conform to his views, the district courts have become the principal source of the checks and balances that are supposed to limit the other branches.

Last week, the conflict broke into the open, with a Florida district court judge ruling firmly against the president as a private citizen and head of the executive branch.

In 2019, Trump’s personal tax records were leaked to the press, and the culprit ended up in prison.  But Trump sued the IRS for an apology and compensation.

To bring a dispute to a court, the parties must be “adverse,” having conflicting interests creating a case for the court to handle.  Adverse parties may settle the case by agreement between themselves, leaving the judge and the court with no further role. 

Trump and the IRS reached what they called a settlement.  The IRS would apologize.  He would be compensated by gaining total freedom from IRS audits.  A $1.776 billion fund would compensate people who had supposedly been mistreated by the Biden administration.  While the DOJ says that fund has been dropped, Trump has not formally agreed, and the deal stands.

The district court judge found that Trump was trying to use a deal he had created with the IRS, which is under his control, to gain significant personal benefit.  First, he filed his complaint.  Then, without further proceedings, he settled the supposed claim.  The settlement legitimizes freedom for him and his family from IRS scrutiny.

But the judge ruled that, without adverse parties, there was no case and thus no settlement.  She found that the original filing did not qualify as a case, but was a contrived way to benefit Trump and his family.

The judge also ruled that the DOJ violated the Court’s rules and should pay the costs of other parties.   Rules violations by the DOJ’s lawyers would be referred to the bar authorities in states where they are licensed.   One such lawyer is Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, nominated to be the U.S. Attorney General.

This judge and other district court judges can take on the president thanks to the life tenure of federal judges.  The war will continue, so they need that protection given them by the nation’s founders.