Review of Cases Shows Administration Ignoring Rulings

A review of lawsuits filed against the Trump administration shows the president and his appointees out of compliance with judges' rulings in one-third of the cases. And the judges have been slow to take action when their orders are defied, allowing the administration to remain in noncompliance. A Washington Post analysis looked at 337 suits and found a ruling had gone against the administration in 165 of them. In 57 of the 165 cases with a substantive ruling, nearly 35%, the administration has been accused of defying or frustrating court oversight.

In addition, plaintiffs said Justice Department lawyers and the agencies they represent are ignoring rulings, giving the court false information, not turning over evidence, quietly working around court orders and coming up with pretexts for continuing to do what a court has blocked, per the Post. Legal experts said such conduct is unprecedented and a threat to the legal system; the administration has blamed "leftist" judges. Chief US District Judge James Boasberg, who said administration officials acted in "willful disregard" of his order to turn around deportation flights headed to El Salvador, has moved to enact sanctions—and an appeals court blocked that effort.

One strategy was highlighted in January, when Office of Management and Budget released a memo freezing all federal grants and loans. After opponents won an injunction, the White House rescinded the memo but kept the freeze in force. Such maneuvers have been used in other cases, said strategy was used in the layoffs of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees, a Georgetown law professor said. "They put out a directive that gets challenged," David Super said. "Then they do the same thing that the directive set out to do but say it's on some other legal basis." Among those who have noticed is Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote in a dissent that when the court enables noncompliance, "it further erodes respect for courts and for the rule of law." The analysis, with examples, can be found here.