Things are not going great for Trump's Cabinet—or the Supreme Court
Injustice for All is a weekly series about how the Trump administration is trying to weaponize the justice system—and the people who are fighting back.
Things are not going great for the Department of Transportation
The Trump administration’s bizarre crusade against New York City’s congestion pricing is not getting any less bizarre.
Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy demanded that the city end the program, which resulted in Gov. Kathy Hochul, previously no fan of congestion pricing, repeatedly saying, “The cameras are staying on,” and becoming the living embodiment of a "COME AND TAKE IT" T-shirt.
So the Metropolitan Transit Authority is suing the DOT.
Duffy is now running around yelling about the amount of crime on subways and saying he’ll withhold federal funds from New York unless authorities can prove the subways are safer. It’s unclear how New York could prove this to Duffy’s satisfaction, particularly given that crime on the subway has been decreasing.
Things took a hilarious turn on Wednesday night when the Department of Justice attorneys handling the case accidentally filed with the court an internal confidential memo that outlined how terrible the DOT’s position is. It’s 11 unrelenting pages of legal analysis torpedoing Duffy’s stance, calling it “contrary to law, pretextual, procedurally arbitrary and capricious, and violated due process.” Ouch.
A sane administration might take this opportunity to figure out a way to exit the case gracefully after having its confidential legal strategy, or lack thereof, revealed as completely indefensible.
But this is the Trump administration, so it has responded by sidelining the attorneys who wrote the memo and developing a conspiracy theory that the attorneys intended to hurt the attempt to end congestion pricing.
It’s got to be so exhausting to never take anything at face value and always insist that nefarious forces are working against you. Lord knows it’s exhausting for the rest of us to watch.
Things are not going great for the Department of Justice
The now-abandoned prosecution of New York City Mayor Eric Adams continues to roil the Department of Justice.
Back in February, Emil Bove, who got his DOJ gig because he was one of Donald Trump’s defense lawyers, demanded that the case be dropped. Not because there was anything wrong with the case, of course, but because Adams entered into a quid pro quo where he got out from under his criminal charges by agreeing to do Trump’s bidding on immigration. Seven federal prosecutors, including Trump’s appointee for acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, resigned rather than sign off on the dismissal.
Three more career prosecutors were placed on administrative leave over L’Affaire Adams. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said they could only be reinstated if they expressed regret and admitted wrongdoing for refusing to dismiss the case.
Like Bove, Blanche also got his DOJ job because he represented Trump in criminal cases. Unsurprisingly, making defending Trump your core purpose in life does not mean you will be good at running a government agency.
The three prosecutors resigned this week, rightfully, rather than knuckle under to Blanche’s weird and inappropriate request. If this keeps up, there won’t be anyone left at the DOJ except Trump appointees.
Things are not going great for the Department of Education
In February, the Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter that threatened to yank funding from any school the administration determined was engaging in forbidden DEI.
The letter was weak sauce, with no real legal analysis, instead just saying that the Supreme Court’s decision about affirmative action in college admissions now magically applies to literally everything in K-12 education, including hiring, discipline, graduation ceremonies, and prizes.
Needless to say, the department got sued. Three education groups brought a lawsuit in March, pointing out how incredibly unconstitutional this was.
On Thursday, U.S. Federal Judge Landya McCafferty agreed, granting the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction.
Apparently mindful of the fact that Republicans are currently losing their minds over nationwide injunctions, McCafferty limited her order to blocking the administration from enforcing the letter against the plaintiffs, all their members, and any entity that employs, contracts, or works with any plaintiff or member of the plaintiff organizations.
That limitation might be more irritating if one of the groups bringing suit wasn’t the National Education Association, which has about 3 million members, affiliate organizations in every state, and 14,000 community affiliates all across the country. That’s gonna scoop up a lot of schools.
Things are not going great for the Supreme Court
Earlier this month, conservatives on the Supreme Court did Trump another solid and ruled that he could keep deporting people. However, the government has to provide notice to people it intends to remove under the Alien Enemies Act, the law Trump has invoked to deport Venezuelans by claiming they are in a gang.
The court said the notice “must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs.” Detainees can only challenge their removal by filing a writ of habeas corpus and arguing they are being unlawfully detained.
Guess what the Trump administration has decided is a reasonable time? Twelve hours. Yes, after ICE scoops someone up and informs them they’re about to be sent to El Salvador, they have 12 hours to indicate they want to file a habeas petition. If they don’t do that in 12 hours, they get deported. If they do say they want to file a petition, they get 24 hours to file it. If they don’t, they get deported.
This short a timeframe would be ridiculous for even the most well-connected detainee, particularly given that the administration likes to arrest immigrants and then immediately move them to another state—usually Louisiana.
This is a smug little game the administration keeps playing. While they’ve openly defied lower court orders, they are a bit more cautious about the Supreme Court. So they engage in this sort of malicious compliance where they claim they are following the court’s order, but based on a deliberately bad-faith reading. There’s no way that the 12/24 hour timeframe meets the definition of “reasonable time” or would “allow them to actually seek habeas relief,” and the administration knows it.
The Supreme Court also most certainly knows it. The justices are dealing with a lawless executive branch that is gleefully refusing to acknowledge the judicial branch’s authority. Sure, maybe you can hand-wave away Trump ignoring the lower courts, but defying the Supreme Court is a whole full-on constitutional crisis.
Related | The constitutional crisis is already here
The question now is whether enough conservatives on the court can rise to meet the moment and join their liberal brethren in reining Trump in or whether they’ll meekly cede their authority to him instead.
Bonus: Things are also not going great for Skadden, Arps
It’s not just the government that had a bad time this week.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was one of the law firms that bent the knee before they were even the subject of an executive order, giving the administration $100 million in pro bono work.
Skadden followed up this genius move by … committing a labor violation? The nation’s most expensive law firms are not really covering themselves in glory here.
After making the deal, Skadden blocked associates from using internal email distribution lists to talk about the deal. Banning employees from discussing workplace conditions is kind of a no-no, which is a thing you’d think the fancy lawyers at Skadden would know.
Now, the National Institute for Workers’ Rights has filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging unfair labor practices. Of course, thanks to Trump’s illegal removal of Commissioner Gwynne Wilcox, the NLRB no longer has a quorum and cannot review any labor disputes.
Oh well, it’s the thought that counts.
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