The Trump administration faces skeptical federal judges — and economic headwinds that are buffeting American workers’ retirement accounts.
Happy Sunday, and welcome to the end of Week Eight of Trump’s second term. Here are some big-picture thoughts and details you may have missed from the week that was — followed by notes on what to look out for next.
The Big Picture: The courts are losing patience with Trump’s lawlessness.
The Trump team faced severe setbacks in court this week. A federal district judge in California ordered the administration to reinstate thousands of workers fired at government agencies, and attorneys at the Department of Justice (DOJ) found themselves raked over the coals by a judge hearing arguments on the Pentagon’s attempts to ban trans people from military service.
What stands out amid the courtroom reversals, however, is this: The administration’s lawyers have done a lousy job so far of representing their client. And that’s coming back to bite them.
In the case involving the Pentagon, federal District Judge Ana Reyes humiliated a DOJ attorney for coming to her courtroom unprepared to answer basic questions:
In San Francisco, federal District Judge William Alsup called the government’s justification for firing early-career and recently promoted federal workers by the thousands “a lie” — and scorned a federal official who retracted their testimony in the case to avoid appearing in court “for not helping me get at the truth”:
Plagued by bad lawyering, the White House perhaps sought to scare good lawyers from helping the Trump administration’s opponents in court — writing an executive order that tried to ban law firm Perkins Coie from entering federal buildings, which would make it impossible for Perkins Coie to represent clients in federal court. The judge who heard the firm’s suit over the ban, District Judge Beryl Howell, immediately stopped it from going into effect — and told the government’s attorney that she would have none of the administration’s arguments:
Will judges’ frustration with the Trump administration’s courtroom arrogance and incompetence come to a head this week, in the aftermath of the deporting of hundreds to El Salvador in violation of a March 15 federal court order to turn around deportation flights leaving the U.S.? That’s what we’ll watch for over the coming days.
What Just Happened: Trump Versus … 🤔
Our Wallets
As the list of goods facing import taxes in the U.S. goes up, and as the number of federal workers affected by layoffs gets bigger, Americans’ retirement accounts — heavily invested in U.S. stock markets — have continued to shrink, with the closely watched S&P 500 average of stocks having lost 10% of its value since Trump returned to the White House. Will the stormy conditions on Wall Street continue to hurt workers’ retirement investments?
… Our Rights
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- A letter to Columbia University from Trump administration officials demanded sweeping academic and administrative changes — including placement of a department into academic probation, and a sharp crackdown on campus protests — before the administration would release $400 million of funding it blocked earlier in March. Here’s what’s important about this: the attempt to strongarm university officials shows Trump’s willingness to use public power and funding to attempt to force changes onto U.S. businesses and organizations. If a billion-dollar institution like Columbia can be forced to give up its rights and control over its campuses, we are all at greater risk.
- Despite a federal court’s immediate action to block the administration’s attempt to intimidate big law firms such as Perkins Coie (mentioned above), Trump did it again. On March 14 he signed an executive order that seeks to ban a major law firm — Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison — from entering federal courthouses and other federal buildings. The shakedown is all a part of Trump’s “revenge” tour – abusing his considerable power to attack his perceived political enemies.