It is day 22 of the Trump administration, and the breakneck pace shows no signs of slowing down. But the Democrats seem to think they have found the speed bump they’ve been looking for. They are filing lawsuit after lawsuit – some 40 so far – in an effort to block Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Some judges are finding their way, but what we are seeing more often is they are winning temporary restraining orders from judges who say Trump cannot enforce that law until there is a full hearing on it. The Democrats are out there claiming, ‘It’s a huge win. We’re shutting down Trump’s ability to change the government.’ And then when Trump says, ‘I don’t think you actually do have the ability to stop me from doing this,’ they declare, ‘It’s a constitutional crisis! He is not listening to the judiciary.’
The Lone Case
So far, there is only one example that even remotely fits the bill. The Trump administration has been ordered to resume payments to federal agencies, and the plaintiff said he didn’t resume doing that fast enough. The Trump team filed a brief arguing they were still making payments in some areas while assessing others.
The judge did not respond with, ‘You are in contempt. You are in huge trouble for doing that.’ The judge said, ‘You’ve got to resume all payments until we have our hearing.’ The judge does not think it is a constitutional crisis, and there is literally just the one case in which the judge said you didn’t quite do what I told you to do. The Trump administration, I think, is going to do it. They haven’t said they won’t.
If the judge says do it and the Trump team refuses, then we are closer to actually having a crisis between the branches of government. In this lone instance, I believe the judge is going to get overruled. The executive branch is allowed to control a lot in relation to how money gets spent and whether it gets spent. They can’t shut down entire agencies that are authorized by Congress, but they do have a lot of say over money and spending.
I realize that these various plaintiffs don’t like that. I realize that the Democrats don’t like that. But it is going to play out in the courts, and I think nine out of 10 of these cases are going to go Trump’s way.
Biden’s Brush Off
We are not at a constitutional crisis yet because Trump has not flipped the bird to any judge telling him he must do something. But do you know who has done that? Former President Joe Biden, and I don’t remember the people freaking out now saying anything back then.
All Trump has done so far is issue executive orders and then gotten sued, but you have the corporate media losing its mind. “Constitutional crisis” is the talking point dujour. But where were all these people when Joe Biden was trampling on the Constitution… repeatedly?
After the Supreme Court blocked his “student loan forgiveness program” the former president spoke openly about how he was proudly bypassing the high court’s ruling. “The Supreme Court blocked me from forgiving student loan debt,” he said at the time. “They didn’t stop me… I found two other ways to do it.”
That was fine with them. Also fine? When he added an amendment to the Constitution via tweet. And those were not the only examples of his lawlessness. Remember his eviction moratorium? The feds tried to tell local landlords they couldn’t evict people who didn’t pay their rent during COVID. There was a question about whether the federal government could do that. The Supreme Court said they couldn’t, and Biden didn’t listen.
Let’s be clear: The system requires you to file a lawsuit at the district court level. That is the trial court. If you lose there, you go up to a federal Court of Appeals. And if you lose there, you go up to the U.S. Supreme Court – if they will take your case.
So far, all Trump has had against him is federal district court rulings – not a Court of Appeals and certainly not the Supreme Court. That is the one Joe Biden was ignoring, and there was no Democrat meltdown.
Where the Lawsuits Stand
Now, the Dems have had some success at the federal district court level. Judges have temporarily blocked Trump’s spending freezes and ordered him to resume the spending. His executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants has been blocked (for the record, the Trump administration knew that would be blocked; they are trying to tee up an appeal that will go up to the Supreme Court).
His buyout offer for federal employees has been paused. The judge wanted a hearing, and Trump has every chance of still winning that case. I actually think he will win that case either before the district judge or when it goes up on appeal.
And then there is the suit targeting the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to the Treasury Department’s payment system. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is saying the two people he allowed to access it were in ‘read only’ mode, they couldn’t change anything, and they work for the Treasury.
So, not all of these lawsuits are going to be successful. And even the ones that have had a preliminary pause are not a success on the merits.
What Comes Next
Having said all that, you should not be surprised to hear that President Trump is not afraid of this fight. He has made that clear.
I am not saying it is impossible to have a constitutional crisis, but we are not there yet. We would be closer once Trump says, ‘I refuse to obey the federal court order.’ And we would certainly get to that point if the U.S. Supreme Court is ordering him to do something or to stop doing something and he refuses.
Right now, we are nowhere near that.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,005 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.