Judiciary

“We’re not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think.” 

These were the words of Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan after the Trump administration violated multiple court orders and deported people without due process. Are we in a constitutional crisis yet? (Yes, and this is not the first time Trump officials have refused to obey the courts; we are tracking these violations here.)

On Wednesday, February 26, Chief Justice John Roberts gave the first indication of the Supreme Court becoming involved in the ongoing legal battles over the Trump administration’s federal spending freeze. Roberts temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling that ordered the release of nearly $2 billion in foreign aid assistance, opening the door for the full Court to weigh in on the issue.

This week, the Trump administration is moving fast to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), abandoning several active enforcement cases against financiers ripping off consumers. The SEC paused its case against Trump ally Justin Sun and handed the crypto industry another victory. Elon Musk continues to have field day after field day, slashing agencies he doesn’t like and watching his businesses balloon in value since the election. Several Trump appointees (like CFTC Chair Nominee Brian Quintenz and acting administrator of the PHMSA Ben Kochman) have major conflicts of interests which will likely skew agency action towards the interests of corporations at the expense of the public. We also witnessed an instance of blatant bias in how legal actions are handled, with leniency toward Republicans.

On January 27 the Trump administration issued a memo ordering a freeze of federal grants and loans, which crippled critical services across the country. Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and Judge John McConnell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island have since blocked the spending pause from going into effect, but there are still numerous examples of shuttered programs and services. We are tracking notable examples.

RDP’s Vishal Shankar joined KALW’s Your Call to discuss the Supreme Court’s overturning of Chevron deference and the right-wing Big Money interests that lobbied for the ruling.

Thirteen right-wing groups linked to court-whisperers like Leonard Leo and Charles Koch urged SCOTUS to weaken our top financial regulator.

A dozen court whisperer-backed groups and MSNBC superstar Neal Katyal want SCOTUS to make wealth taxes illegal. 

21 right-wing groups linked to court-whisperers want SCOTUS to make its most dangerous regulatory power grab yet.

Right-wing court-whisperers are pushing SCOTUS to allow states to ban abortions even in cases of severe medical emergencies.

Right-wing groups linked to Charles Koch and Leonard Leo are backing Starbucks’ assault on the National Labor Relations Board.

An unholy coalition of right-wingers and California Democrats wants the Supreme Court to eviscerate the rights of homeless people.

The SCOTUS Justices’ billionaire benefactors have an oft-overlooked means of peddling influence: amicus briefs.