#separation-of-powers — Public Fediverse posts

Trumpism and Constitutional Collapse: How America Might Be Stronger If MAGA Had Never Reached Power

https://thedemocracyadvocate.com/news-to-know/u-s-politics/trumpism-and-constitutional-collapse/

The move frees a trial judge to act on the #Trump admin’s pending request to dismiss Bannon’s conviction & indictment “in the interests of justice” [rewriting history].

The dismissal would be largely symbolic. #SteveBannon served a 4-month prison term after a #jury #convicted him of #contempt of #Congress in 2022. A federal appeals court in Washington upheld the conviction.

#SCOTUS #law #SeparationOfPowers #LegislativeBranch #oversight #ChecksAndBalances #SubpoenaPower

WTAF!?

#SteveBannon wins #SCOTUS order likely to lead to dismissal of his #criminal #conviction for refusing to #Congress.

“Prodded” [instructed] by the #Trump admin, the justices threw out an appellate ruling upholding Bannon’s conviction for defying a #subpoena from the #House committee that investigated the #Jan6, 2021 #insurrection by Trump supporters.

#law #SeparationOfPowers #LegislativeBranch #oversight #ChecksAndBalances #SubpoenaPower
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-capitol-riot-bannon-trump-4a4cf324096fc1bfed204d42b54d191e

#Trump says he'll sign #ExecutiveOrder to resume pay for #DHS. His move illegally bypasses #Congress.

He announced the #unilateral move in a social media post, blaming #Democrats [even though #Republicans control both the #House & #Senate] for the impasse.

#ConstitutionalLaw #law #Constitution #PowerOfThePurse #LegislativeBranch #SeparationOfPowers #autocracy #dictatorship #authoritarianism #tyranny
https://apnews.com/article/senate-funding-homeland-security-shutdown-4a3e4a3e77bd33213b98888e79a81f51

The Court Gutted Congress’s War Power. It’s Time to Give It Back.
https://www.justsecurity.org/133926/congress-war-power-give-back/

#WarPowers #Constitution #NationalSecurity #Congress #SeparationOfPowers #Law #SCOTUS #ForeignPolicy #JustSecurity

② Jenner & Block LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice (D.D.C. 25-cv-00916, decided 2025-05-23) https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69807126/jenner-block-llp-v-us-department-of-justice/

> This case arises from one of a series of executive orders targeting law firms that, in one way or another, did not bow to the current presidential administration’s political orthodoxy. Like the others in the series, this order — which takes aim at the global law firm Jenner & Block — makes no bones about why it chose its target: it picked Jenner because of the causes Jenner champions, the clients Jenner represents, and a lawyer Jenner once employed. Going after law firms in this way is doubly violative of the #Constitution. Most obviously, retaliating against firms for the views embodied in their legal work — and thereby seeking to muzzle them going forward — violates the First Amendment's central command that government may not “use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression.” .... More subtle but perhaps more pernicious is the message the order sends to the lawyers whose unalloyed advocacy protects against governmental viewpoint becoming government-imposed orthodoxy. This order, like the others, seeks to chill legal representation the administration doesn’t like, thereby insulating the Executive Branch from the judicial check fundamental to the #SeparationOfPowers. It thus violates the Constitution and the Court will enjoin its operation in full.

...

> #ExecutiveOrder 14246 violates settled #FirstAmendment law and its operation must be enjoined in full.

— Judge #JohnBates, Docket 138

Coverage from @democracydocket @marcelias

#DOJ attempts to evade state #ethics oversight of its attorneys

#Trump #law #LegalEthics #judiciary #Constitution #SeparationOfPowers #Bar #AmericanBarAssociation #Federalism #states #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/justice-department-attorneys-state-bar-investigations-newrule/

Under the new proposal, current or former #DOJ lawyers would be prohibited from assisting state-level investigations ​until the #US AG's “review” is finished.

#Trump appointee AG #PamBondi already signed the draft rule, which will be ‌open ⁠for public comment for 30 days starting on Thursday before it can go into effect.

#law #LegalEthics #judiciary #Constitution #SeparationOfPowers #Bar #AmericanBarAssociation #Federalism #states #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

For instance, ​an attorney #ethics panel in Washington recommended last year that #JeffreyClark, a senior #DOJ official during Trump's first term ​as president, be #disbarred for conduct involving dishonesty.

Clark sought to enlist the DOJ in Trump's failed attempts to overturn his #2020election loss based on false claims of widespread voter fraud. A DC appeals court has yet to make the ​final determination on #disbarment.

#Trump #law #LegalEthics #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #ABA

The proposal takes aim ​at the actions of #bar associations & similar professional organizations, not government entities, that investigate alleged ⁠#unethical conduct by #lawyers & consider actions such as #disbarment, which involves revoking a #license to practice #law [cuz, yeah, sane humans believe Rudolph Giuliani should still have legal authority /s].

#LegalEthics #judiciary #Constitution #SeparationOfPowers #ABA #Federalism #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

The proposal would give the #USattorney general the right to review misconduct allegations against current or former #DOJ #attorneys & request that disciplinary authorities at the state level suspend their investigations.

That would mean that ​the #US AG, by dragging out such a review, could stall any such investigation.

#Trump #law #LegalEthics #judiciary #Constitution #SeparationOfPowers #AmericanBarAssociation #Federalism #states #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

Of course they do…
🚨
#Trump #DOJ aims to limit #ethics probes into its lawyers

The #US “Justice” Department is seeking to constrain ethics investigations ​conducted at the state level into alleged #misconduct by its lawyers, according to a proposed rule ‌submitted on Wednesday that would shield prosecutors pursuing Trump's agenda.

#law #LegalEthics #judiciary #Constitution #SeparationOfPowers #Bar #AmericanBarAssociation #Federalism #states #authoritarianism #fascism
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-justice-department-aims-limit-ethics-probes-into-its-lawyers-2026-03-04/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

"Chief Justice John Roberts is sending a message not only to Mr. Trump but also to the waiting world. Something along the lines of, 'People, this is what we’re dealing with.' The point being not that some fertilizers are now exempt from reciprocal tariffs but that a reckless president is sowing chaos in America and around the globe":
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/opinion/tariffs-trump-john-roberts.html
copy: @renewedresistance #JudicialIndependence #SeparationOfPowers #GoodNews

That explanation was not enough for Judge Laura M. Provinzino of the Federal District Court for the District of Minnesota. #Last Wednesday, she found Mr. Isihara in civil #contempt of court.

Legal experts said her ruling marked the first time during Trump’s second term that a judge had attempted to assert authority by issuing a civil contempt ruling, which enforces a judicial order by imposing a penalty until the offending party complies.

#Trump #law #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers

“Why should I not hold you in #contempt?” the judge asked a #DOJ lawyer at a hearing last week. Instead of answers, she got excuses.

“I don’t think there was ever any intention to defy the court orders,” said the lawyer, Matthew Isihara, a military judge advocate [#JAG] on temporary assignment to the Justice Department. “We were doing our best & things, unfortunately, slipped — slipped through the cracks.”

#Trump #law #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

#Trump posted that he was making the decision “Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday,” by #SCOTUS. 🙄

Cuz, you know, he told us he has excellent reading comprehension 🤣.

#law #economy #tariffs #inflation #affordability #CostOfLiving #Judiciary #legislative #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment #authoritarianism #dictatorship #fascism

#Trump announced Saturday that he would raise his new, global #tariff to 15%, a day after he took steps to replicate some of the punishing duties that had been struck down by #SCOTUS.

Trump announced the change in a post on social media, & said the #tariffs would take effect immediately, as he signaled anew that he would press ahead with his #trade war despite the legal ruling.

#law #economy #SeparationOfPowers #Judiciary #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/business/trump-tariffs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

“I think it persuaded some, but we have this ruling now that so clearly puts the power back in Congress’s hands, the House’s hands,” Bacon said. “We have to stand up on our own two feet & use these authorities, because that’s what the founders intended.”

He, too, posted a screenshot of Justice #Gorsuch’s conclusion on social media on Friday, calling his homage to the role of the #legislative branch “perfect words.”

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #Congress #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

Rep #DonBacon of Nebraska, one of the few #Republicans in the #House who has forced votes to overturn #Trump’s #tariffs & is set to #retire next year, said in an interview on CNN on Friday that one of the arguments #GOP leaders had used to keep their members from breaking was that “the president will just veto this if it does pass, so it’s only symbolic.”

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

The few expressions of pushback that have emerged have largely been futile, & instigated by #Republicans who are set to #retire at the end of this congressional session or cut rare maverick streaks, such as Sen #RandPaul & Rep #ThomasMassie, both Kentucky #libertarians who posted Justice #Gorsuch’s words admiringly on social media.

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

#MikeJohnson has used some iteration of the phrase to respond to questions about whether it was appropriate for #Trump to accept the gift of a #jet from #Qatar leaders; whether he supported the ouster of the new director of the #CDC; & whether he would support Trump pardoning the convicted sex trafficker #GhislaineMaxwell, though he added such a move would give him “great pause.”

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

Lawmakers sat idly by after the White House informed them it planned to use a rare maneuver to skirt a vote & cancel nearly $5 billion in #ForeignAid #funding that they had already approved.

“Not my lane” has become the go-to reply among #Republicans asked questions about any number of #Trump’s actions [when in reality it is exactly their lane].

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #Congress #legislative #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

Most of the major elements of #Trump’s agenda have been accomplished via executive action, with the exception of the #tax & #spending cut #legislation #Republicans pushed through last year using the #partisan reconciliation process—hardly the “broad support to survive the #legislative process” that Justice #Gorsuch wrote was vital to enacting enduring policies.…

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

Most #Republicans in #Congress appear to fall into the latter category. They have sought to give #Trump broad latitude on nearly every issue of significance, including powers normally jealously guarded by legislators, such as the authority to impose #taxes & #tariffs, to allocate federal #spending & to use #military force.

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

…It was hard not to detect a note of reproach for the current #dysfunctional state of affairs in #Congress in Justice #Gorsuch’s reflections about the virtues of #legislating, in which, he wrote, “deliberation tempers impulse, & compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions.”

“For some today, the weight of those virtues is apparent,” he added. “For others, it may not seem so obvious.”

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

Asked at a news conference at the White House on Friday whether he now planned to work with #Congress to impose the kinds of sweeping #tariffs he prefers, #Trump said he had no intention of doing so.

“I don’t have to,” he said. “I have the right to do tariffs.”

That has been a position that #Republican leaders have largely preferred not to question.

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s concurring opinion released on Friday after #SCOTUS struck down Trump’s #tariffs concluded with a paean to #Congress that read like a requiem for a bygone era of #legislative #power.

“Yes, legislating can be hard & take time,” wrote Justice #Gorsuch, a #Trump appointee who is part of the court’s #conservative majority. “And yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises.”

#law #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment

In Gorsuch’s Homage to #Legislative #Power, a Subtle Reproach of a Neutered #Congress

In his concurrence to the ruling invalidating #Trump’s #tariffs, Justice Neil M. #Gorsuch made a forceful case for the sanctity of the legislative process — & an implicit critique of its current #dysfunction.

#law #SCOTUS #SeparationOfPowers #3CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/us/politics/gorsuch-congress-trump-tariffs.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share