White House escalates judicial branch clash after Chief Justice rebuke National & International News -

White House escalates judicial branch clash after Chief Justice rebuke.

Sources: Trump to order closure of Department of Education.

White House escalates judicial branch clash after Chief Justice rebuke

Over the weekend, the Trump Administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan nationals on two flights to El Salvador. ICE alleges that these deportees were affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren del Aragua but has not produced evidence to support this. However, an ICE official admitted that “many” of the deportees on these flights had committed no crime within the US.

These flights sparked a battle between the administration and federal District Judge James Boasberg, and by extension a showdown between the executive and judicial branches.

On Saturday, Boasberg demanded that the flights be turned around, but the administration refused to comply. Now, US attorneys are arguing that they do not even have to supply Boasberg with information he had asked for about the flights.

Call for impeachment and rebuke from Roberts

In the midst of all this, Trump himself took to truth social to call for Boasberg’s impeachment. Impeachment of a judge requires action by Congress, namely a majority vote in the house and then a trial in the Senate. The judge can be convicted and removed with a two-thirds Senate majority.

However, Trump’s comments prompted an intervention from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who until now had not commented publicly on Trump’s repeated defiance of court orders. Roberts stated that “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose”.

This may be significant as Trump has repeatedly appealed to the conservative majority Supreme Court to overturn decisions by lower courts and to rein in judges whose decisions have been unfriendly to his agenda. Some of the justices that are most likely to be sympathetic to Trump politically may balk at having the authority of the judicial branch brazenly undermined. Notably, Roberts’ statement has not stopped the White House from continuing to rail against judges.

The question then becomes, what happens if the Supreme Court overrules Trump? Will Trump comply? And if not, what happens next?

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Sources: Trump to order closure of Department of Education

According to an anonymous White House official, President Trump is set to sign an executive order on Thursday calling on the Department of Education to be shuttered.

According to a fact sheet seen by the press, the order would direct Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the states, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely”.

Much like a recent order from Secretary McMahon to cut the department’s staff in half, there are no specifics on how these aims are to be accomplished. In essence, these orders call for a plan to make plans.

The agency’s key responsibilities include: overseeing $1.6 trillion in student loans; financially supporting low income school districts; overseeing enforcement regarding the rights of students with disabilities; civil rights enforcement in learning institutions; and promoting equal access to education.

It is not clear how McMahon plans to ensure these functions will be carried out if the department closes. In the agency’s absence, it’s also unclear how Trump would continue to pressure institutions of higher education over issues such as DEI, pro-Palestine campus protests, and trans athletes.

Furthermore, even members of Trump’s own administration doubt he can dismantle the department for good without an act of Congress.

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