Republicans are very upset with the federal judiciary. As the number of injunctions against the Trump administration runs into the double digits — one of the latest indefinitely blocked Trump’s ban on transgender service members — the rage and name-calling is only getting worse.
“This is tyranny. A small handful of marxist judges trying to run the entire country,” lamented Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller.
“District Court judges have issued RECORD numbers of national injunctions against the Trump administration,” complained Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, “a dramatic abuse of judicial authority.”
If the Trump administration wants an end to the seemingly endless adverse federal judgments against its policies, there is a relatively simple and elegant solution.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, the nation’s highest-ranking law enforcement figure, accused federal Judge James Boasberg, who blocked the recent deportation of hundreds of legal Venezuelan immigrants, of “meddling in our government.” One can assume that Bondi was absent the day her law school professors discussed the separation of powers and explained that the federal judiciary is a co-equal branch of the federal government.
For his part, Trump called Boasberg a “radical left lunatic” and demanded his impeachment — a move that led Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to publicly, albeit not directly, criticize the president.
However, if the Trump administration wants an end to the seemingly endless adverse federal judgments against its policies, there is a relatively simple and elegant solution.
STOP BREAKING THE LAW.
The Trump administration complaining about meddlesome federal judges is like Al Capone complaining about snooping Treasury agents — or John Dillinger complaining about intruding bank guards.
There is a very easy explanation for why Trump’s policies keep getting blocked by federal judges: They are illegal.
One would think that Trump would be used to this by now. In his first term, there were 64 federal injunctions slapped on his initiatives — double the number in the George W. Bush, Obama and Biden administrations combined.
Rather than the endless whining about the federal judiciary, the Trump administration should call a timeout and get everyone who works in the White House and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to spend the day reading the Constitution. When they finish that bit of civic education they could search up Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court ruling that establishes the principle of judicial review and makes the country’s highest court the arbiter of what is and isn’t constitutional.
Had White House lawyers taken the time to leaf through the country’s founding legal document, they might not have been upbraided by a federal judge who ruled that DOGE’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development “likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways.”
A quick perusal of the 14th Amendment might have also prevented Trump from signing an executive order to end birthright citizenship — an order that’s been blocked by three federal judges, one of whom called the proclamation “blatantly unconstitutional.” The greatest threat to American democracy is not federal judges who have read the Constitution and are faithfully interpreting the law. After Trump issued an executive order seeking to punish the law firm Perkins Coie for having previously worked with Hillary Clinton by terminating any federal contracts with the firm and barring government employees from working with its attorneys, federal Judge Beryl Howell said the edict “sends little chills down my spine.” She compared Trump’s order to a “bill of attainder,” a legislative act that declares someone guilty of a crime and mandates a punishment without a trial or due process. Trump administration lawyers could have read up about bills of attainder by reviewing Article 1, Section 9, which expressly forbids them. (Unfortunately, when the same executive order was issued against the New York-based law firm Paul Weiss, the firm wilted under pressure and pledged $40 million in pro bono work in support of Trump administration priorities.) A better understanding of federal law could have stopped the Trump administration from firing hundreds of thousands of probationary employees, a move that federal courts have repeatedly stymied — in some cases forcing federal agencies to rehire some of those who’ve been let go. The same can be said for Trump’s efforts to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, freeze federal spending and enact a new National Institutes of Health policy capping reimbursements for medical research grants. Federal judges have blocked all three initiatives. Unsurprisingly, none of this has stopped the Trump administration from continuing to issue blatantly illegal presidential edicts. Just yesterday, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, even though such an action can only be taken by Congress. If, and likely when, Trump’s latest executive order is blocked, he and his cronies will whine about the unfairness of the federal judiciary … but all of this is entirely predictable. Earlier this week, when a federal judge blocked DOGE’s efforts to dismantle USAID, Trump complained that “rogue judges … are destroying our country.” But as is so often the case with Trump and his minions, every accusation is a confession. The greatest threat to American democracy is not federal judges who have read the Constitution and are faithfully interpreting the law. Instead it’s a rogue White House that is consistently breaking the law, acting outside its constitutional powers and then complaining that judges are treating it unfairly. If Trump wants to stop getting slapped down by federal judges, there’s a simple solution — abide by the law.
Michael A. Cohen is a political writer and a fellow with the Eurasia Group Foundation. 
