The Looming Conflict Between the Trump Administration and the Judiciary

What’s happening: The Trump administration has been dealt a series of legal defeats regarding the president’s flurry of executive orders. However, some in the administration may be laying the groundwork to ignore the federal courts’ rulings.

• Catch up: Judges have temporarily blocked several key Trump actions, such as eliminating birthright citizenship, freezing federal funds, transferring transgender-identifying men out of women’s prisons, blocking the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to Treasury Department data, and more.

Defiance: Vice President JD Vance has been reposting remarks from individuals like Harvard Law Professor Adrian Vermeule, Yale Law Professor Jed Rubenfeld, and conservative columnist and lawyer Kurt Schlichter, all of whom support Vance's view that federal court rulings are “illegal” when they interfere with “the executive’s legitimate power.”

• Musk goes further: DOGE leader Elon Musk exclaimed that Judge Paul Engelmayer is "a corrupt judge protecting corruption,” adding, “He needs to be impeached NOW!” Engelmayer blocked DOGE from gaining access to Treasury Department data.

• Unitary executive theory: The pushback comes from the fact that many conservatives subscribe to the “unitary executive theory,” which holds that the president has full control over the executive branch — meaning he can hire, fire, and command executive branch officials at will.

A Constitutional crisis? Many in the media believe that if the Trump administration starts ignoring court orders or defying the judiciary, it will create a constitutional crisis that challenges the separation of powers and the fundamental checks and balances in the US government.

• However, as conservatives like Vice President Vance and CNN panelist Scott Jennings assert, the constitutional crisis has already arrived — but it’s the federal judges who have created it by overstepping — not the Trump administration.

Why it matters: Vance and Musk sounding off on the legality of the courts’ decisions might just be setting the groundwork for the administration — and future presidents — to ignore certain rulings. Although they throw the blame back at the judiciary, defying the federal courts could have far-reaching consequences for the balance of power in the federal government.