Mullin hedges when pressed on whether DHS will always honor court orders
When federal officials lose in court, they have a few options. They can appeal the rulings, criticize the rulings, and in some instances, even propose legislative remedies to respond to the rulings.
What they cannot do, at least not in this country, is ignore the rulings. It’s one of those foundational elements of the American system of government.
There is some question, however, as to whether Donald Trump and his team fully understand and agree with this basic truth. A year ago, for example, a reporter asked the president, “Do you agree that the Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders? Do you agree with that statement?”
Instead of saying, “Of course,” the Republican who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution replied, “Well, you’re gonna have to speak to the lawyers.”
A year later, concerns about the administration’s approach are hardly an abstraction. The Associated Press reported last month, “Federal judges around the country have raised alarms in recent months about the Trump administration’s failure to follow their orders in individual immigration cases. An Associated Press review of court records shows Trump officials have also racked up an extraordinary record of defiance in a much broader set of lawsuits dating back to the first days of President Donald Trump’s second term.”
With this in mind, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin appeared before a Senate Appropriations Committee panel on Tuesday afternoon and confronted an important line of inquiry from Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. MS NOW reported:
Murphy pressed Mullin over whether DHS will obey court orders under his leadership, referencing the federal judges across the country who have found the agency violated their rulings related to the Trump administration’s deportation agenda. […]
Mullin said the agency he leads would “never” violate the Constitution or the law, but declined to directly reject the notion that DHS could violate federal court orders in pursuit of enforcing immigration law.
After some awkward back-and-forth exchanges, the senator tried to get to the heart of the matter. “I think it’s an easy thing to say,” Murphy said. “Will you, or will you not, implement court orders?”
Recommended
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
Latest Post
