Since early February, when Vice President J. D. Vance posted on X that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” the United States has been inching nearer and nearer to the moment when the White House directly defies an order of the court. So far, that moment doesn’t appear to have arrived—in part because the Trump administration can’t quite commit to its own authoritarian posturing. But new developments in two court cases, both concerning Donald Trump’s blatantly illegal rendering of detainees to a Salvadoran megaprison, may soon push the constitutional system into an unambiguous crisis. As the administration talks itself into refusing to comply with judicial orders, federal judges are moving closer to deploying the most powerful tool they have: contempt of court. Even that tool might not be powerful enough.In retrospect, it makes perfect sense that Trump’s most aggressive attack on the judiciary would arrive in the… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.
1 week ago
