Conservative Legal Icon Offers Sobering Admission On If Trump Defies Court Order
HuffPost
Former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig warned of uncharted territory for the United States.
Conservative former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig on Tuesday warned about what he described as President Donald Trump’s “war on the rule of law in America” and the unprecedented consequences for the country should Trump defy a federal court order or federal judge.
Asked by MSNBC’s Ali Velshi what will happen if Trump actually defies such an order, Luttig admitted: “We don’t know what happens.”
The country “will be in a constitutional crisis” as no president of the United States has flagrantly done so before, he noted.
“The courts are considered the least powerful branch because they control neither the purse nor the sword and they have no effective means to enforce their orders other than by judgments of contempt that theoretically, but theoretically only, can be enforced by the marshals of the court,” Luttig explained.
“So, as a practical matter, if the President of the United States defies even a Supreme Court order, there is nothing that the Supreme Court itself could do,” he added. “And this has been a very tempting thing for this president ever since his first term, as we all know.”
Edward "Jake" Lang was accused of using a baseball bat on officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Now he wants to return to the Capitol as a senator.
The judge said the administration couldn't send Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, but the administration claims his oral orders weren't "enforceable."
The party's leadership is trying to move past a shutdown debacle with a focus on protecting health care coverage under Medicaid.
While the event is usually attended by sitting presidents and first ladies, Trump and his wife, Melania, declined to attend during his first four years in office.
Trump declared Sunday that many of former President Joe Biden's pardons are "VOID" due to unverified claims that he used an autopen to sign them.
"I'm going to take a look at that," the president said before the White House announced its action.
A papier mâché sculpture of Elon Musk will also go up in flames in Valencia.
The president's press-baiting just hit another low.
The president then railed against the "discredited" media organization.
The Trump White House press secretary's clueless take on France and the Statue of Liberty sparked an instant fact check.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams bid farewell to the International Space Station, departing aboard a SpaceX capsule alongside two other astronauts.
An extraordinary legal showdown took place over Trump’s invocation of an 18th century wartime act to deport hundreds of immigrants to a prison in El Salvador.
"The Five" host Jessica Tarlov clashed with the former judge after the Trump administration deported hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador.