Trump had another bad day in court
Tuesday was not a good one for Donald Trump’s attempts to remake the United States to better suit his “tastes.”
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued a stop order on construction of Trump’s gilded, oversized, $400 million ballroom on the site of the Easy Wing he demolished without approval earlier this year (CNN):
“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Judge Richard Leon wrote.
Note the excalamation mark.
Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said he was delaying implementation of his ruling for two weeks to allow the government to appeal. But he warned that “any above-ground construction over the next fourteen days that is not in compliance” with his ruling “is at risk of being taken down depending on the outcome of this case.”
The Trump administration immediately told the judge it will appeal.
Trump claims to have secured private funds for the construction. Will he defy the court and move ahead anyway?
The crux of the issue, Leon concluded in his decision, was that Trump had not received approval from lawmakers to undertake the bold construction project, which he said was required by federal law.
“(U)nless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!” he wrote, adding that the good news” is that Trump and Congress can work to authorize the project.
Another exclamation mark.
Trump declared on Truth Social that the National Trust for Historic Preservation (the plaintiffs) are “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics.” In a separate screed, Trump announced that he and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum “are working on fixing the absolutely filthy Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.” He blamed Joe Biden for not knowing “what ‘CLEAN’ or proper maintenance is.”
Amidst all of his complaining, nonstop grifting, and pursuing plans for a massive triumphal arch in D.C. and a presidential library/hotel in Miami, where does Trump find time to impose new tariffs and prosecute a war with Iran?
But I digress.
In a second Trump loss, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss moved to permanently block Trump’s defunding of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service (Associated Press):
The operational impact of U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss’ decision was not immediately clear — both because it will likely be appealed and because too much damage to the public-broadcasting system has already been done, both by the president and Congress.
Moss ruled that President Donald Trump’s executive order to cease funding for NPR and PBS is unlawful and unenforceable. The judge said the First Amendment right to free speech “does not tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type.”
As the saying goes, it’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission. Trump does neither. He and his advisers count on the courts moving slowly while they move fast and break things they dislike while defacing others belonging to all of us. His M.O. is to dare people to stop him.
“It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch,” wrote Moss, who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, a Democrat.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Moss’ decision is “a ridiculous ruling by an activist judge attempting to undermine the law.”
That would be the law Trump neither respects nor follows.
In one, indirect “win” for Trump this week, the Supreme Court ruled that Colorado’s law banning conversion therapy directed at “correcting” the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ persons (NBC News):
The 8-1 decision in favor of therapist Kaley Chiles on her claim brought under the Constitution’s First Amendment is likely to have national implications — more than 20 states have similar laws. It could also have an impact on other forms of medical treatment that involve speech.
Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said that “the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
Colorado’s law “does not just ban physical interventions,” Gorsuch wrote. It also “censors speech based on viewpoint.”
I’m finding no record that the White House made comment.