The Supreme Court has stepped in and stayed a district court order for the Trump administration to pay $2 billion in US AID grants that had been paused by Executive Order (XO). This means that the case must be reviewed and adjudicated before any such action can take place.
The DC Circuit has been playing games here. It looks like the plan by “woke” judges in the DC Circuit was to create a situation where the government would be held in contempt of court. This plan may have been exposed by Dem. Representative Hank Johnson. Johnson is famous for having suggested that the island of Guam might capsize if too many military people were stationed there.
Circuit Judge Timothy Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit testified Tuesday at a hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet. Tymkovich discussed a shortage of judgeships on the federal bench before Johnson asked about the marshals.
During Johnson’s allotted time, he asked, “If a president willfully failed or refused to comply with a court ruling, they could be held in contempt of court theoretically, but it would be up to the U.S. Marshals Service, which is a part of the Justice Department, to be the enforcement arm for the federal courts. Is that correct?”
Tymkovich sidestepped the question. When Johnson persisted, Tymkovich noted, “Again, I’m here on behalf of the judicial conference to talk about the shortage of judges that we have, and I would comment on those needs in particular.”
Johnson was clearly trying to lay the groundwork for a narrative about a rogue President ignoring lawful court orders. One knows that the media would run in and amplify this narrative if it happened.
Margot Cleveland has a good breakdown of the legal issues involved on the order to pay $2 billion on Wednesday evening.
There are two hugely significant and interrelated portions of this supposed “TRO” that merit intervention by Supreme Court. First, sovereign immunity: You can’t sue federal government for money unless it grants you permission. Federal government only granted permission relevant here if you bring the claim in a federal court of claims. That’s related issue: Federal district courts lack jurisdiction, i.e., power, to decide contract/grant disputes which is what DOJ is saying is at issue here.
Another point which might get SCOTUS attention is misuse of TROs to avoid review. This is clearly an injunction–an order to pay–not a restraining order to maintain status quote & yet both lower court & Circuit Court are treating as non-appealable TRO, where huge consequences. SCOTUS needs to nip such abuse.
So Chief Justice Roberts stepped in and said effectively, “Not so fast.” This is highly unusual at this point in time with cases like this.
More analysis from Margot Cleveland:
Trump Administration basically said: a) we couldn’t if we wanted to; b) this Court lacks authority to make us pay money on contracts b/c we have sovereign immunity (i.e., we didn’t give you permission to sue us), you have to sue in Court of Claims.
TROs aren’t generally appealable but this was a court order to do something so it should be appealable now, but when Trump appealed to D.C. Circuit, the Court refused to hear appeal & tossed case. Trump had hedged bets & also asked SCOTUS to stop judge’s unlawful order.
Justice Robert’s granted an “Administrative Stay” basically freezing the lower court’s order mandating compliance by midnight. This is huge because SCOTUS doesn’t normally get involved in cases, and definitely not at such an early stage where it is before district court.
But as I said yesterday when Judge did this, all hell was about to break loose and Justice Roberts likely recognized that reality: They cannot let a lone district court judge control the Executive Branch where the order is so clearly beyond the judge’s authority to issue.
Is Roberts trying to give the DC Circuit the opportunity to act in a non-partisan, judicial manner? Will leftist judges ever act on accepted constitutional and legal principles?
This is the kind of lawfare that the country is facing. When the court system is rotten to the core, the idea of equal justice under the law disappears. Roberts was right to step in so early.