Trump Hasn’t Complied With $3 Trillion Order, Judge Rules

A federal judge ruled the Trump administration has failed to fully comply with a court order to unfreeze $3 trillion appropriated by Congress, one of many judicial directives in dozens of lawsuits over President Donald Trump’s flurry of executive orders. The unprecedented order in question, suspending the bulk of government expenditures, is widely considered by constitutional law scholars to be an unlawful power grab by the 78-year-old Republican. The “broad, categorical and sweeping” freeze is likely unconstitutional and is irreparably harming “a vast portion of this country,” Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island said in his ruling. Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk decried the decision, with the latter floating fanciful proposals to restrict judicial powers in retaliation.

Historically, the ruling is grave in nature as it is potentially the first tremor in something much bigger. Noah Feldman writes in Bloomberg Opinion that “it’s neither surprising nor especially worrisome” that Musk is attacking the courts—since “he doesn’t know anything about law or the Constitution and seems to view both as minor irritants.” What is of concern is the effort by Vance, a law school graduate, to undermine the fundamental constitutional principle that the executive branch must comply with a federal court order. Vance didn’t cross the line by directly calling for the administration to defy a judicial order and it would be a mistake to declare a constitutional crisis before one exists. But “what Vance is doing is more subtly pernicious,” Feldman says—and a dangerous legal game.