This order reads like a dispatch from Earth 1, describing the normal structure and workings of the governmental branches as I understood them to be prior to this past February. The transmission is faint; one can almost hear the static. I wish I could believe this opinion would do more than provide some of us a warm glow of nostalgia for the few weeks before it is inevitably overruled and we are left to face the bleak reality we find ourselves in here in 2025, on this accursed and stupidest of timelines.
Once again, the courts seek to uphold the constitution. That this specifically states that the Article I powers of Congress have been usurped in this Executive Order is a very clear way to state the problem, I’ve just finished skimming the order, but going to read it again more thoroughly. Even more with this term, I wish I had gone to law school back when I was accepted in the 80’s so I could be fighting all of this in court. Sigh.
As a British lawyer I struggle with some of the detail so I appreciate your careful summaries. But the basic principle is the same in both jurisdictions- however much you dislike them court orders must be obeyed until they are successfully appealed or overturned by legislation. Unfortunately that is not presently being observed by the Trump regime which continues to ignore or lie about orders it dislikes even those few that have emanated so far from the SCOTUS vis Miller’s characterisation of the 9-0 order in the KAG case as being a win for the government.
Which brings me (finally) to my question- how do the courts enforce their orders if the government continues to ignore them?
Here's way more detail than you wanted. I suspect British courts have similar processes, since we borrowed all this from British law.
Courts have what are called contempt powers to enforce their orders. These usually involve fines, for instance, $100. per day paid by the ABC corporation until it stops pouring its filth into the river. In some instances, contempt power can be used to jail a recalcitrant defendant, for instance, hot shot reporter will remain in jail until they reveal their sources (ignore the 1st Am. issue here).
Finally, courts have bailiffs working for them. These guys, usually semi-retired law enforcement, keep order in the court every day. If a court finds a witness in contempt for failing to respond to its subpoena ordering them to appear to testify, the bailiff hunt them down and haul them into court.
We are in uncharted waters here with an executive branch going rogue while the legislative branch is paralyzed. I am less familiar with federal court procedures, but I believe the US Marshals enforce federal court contempt orders against individuals. I have seen some discussion that since the marshals are managed by the executive branch, they might refuse to haul Trump cronies into federal courts.
We are pretty much at a constitutional impasse here in my opinion. Note Abrego-Garcia is not home yet although the administration was ordered to do so. What does the court do? Assess fines? Jail Stephen Miller? This is like a law school hypothetical no one ever thought would come to pass in real life. All systems will break down when the participants do not act ethically and in good faith.
If the people keep hitting the streets, Republicans in Congress may eventually fear their constituents more than Trump. At which point, they will defy him and start exercising their Art. I powers. I'm glad the judge spelled that part out so clearly - so the people realize Congress is screwing us over here. Because the people are also part of checks and balances. They just need to realize they are being called to action.
Thanks, and I appreciate the detail. We do indeed have similar procedures with similar names, like habeas corpus and contempt of court with bailiffs to enforce it. (You might have heard tell of one Tommy Robinson who is presently in a UK prison for contempt of court though here there is a limit to the sentence of 2 years).
I have also read about the enforcement powers of Marshalls but my concern is slightly different from yours - that they will haul trump minions who are put forward “take the rap” into court and they will be sacrificed by this amoral regime whilst the real miscreants continue to monetise their power. Like you say the system breaks down when the participants or even just one of them stops acting in good faith.
Hopefully the Reps will come to fear their constituents sooner rather than later.
I'm heartened by this ruling and appreciate the detailed explanation. Interesting that Congress is crickets on this whole thing. So Trump runs a steamroller over 271 Republican Congresspeople, and a judge says he can't do what he's doing without Congressional approval.
What happens if they don't care?
Whats the likelihood Trump will try to push it through Congress to get the necessary aporoval?
Does it matter? There are always rubber meets the road restrictions on anything; in the meantime, we need to ignore his claims that he's exempt and not give them any oxygen
Finally! A practical, thoughtful and well-reasoned decision that breaks through the procedural BS and lays out what was crystal-clear to anyone with a 5th grade understanding of the separation of powers: these destructive and rogue EOs, ruthlessly firing tens of thousands of dedicated civil servants with no Congressional approval, are illegal and unconstitutional. If the current GOP majority in Congress wasn’t comprised of hundreds of treasonous spineless traitors they would’ve impeached and convicted the president already.
Worst is yet to come. Donald "The Beast" Trump is building a wall once again. Colossal tariff wall that is the beginning of the end for the system of down. At first the beast will pull the plug out of the global economy. The worst financial crisis of human history will pull a swarm of the banks underwater and the bank run begins. Then the beast will collapse a mountain of debt shattering the backbone of the monetary system causing a systemic risk to realize. Finally the beast will cast American citizens into a system slavery under the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan, just to "honor his legacy" count the number. After the destruction a new world order will be established in the US. And the Golden Age begins from the ruins of the world wide collapse. All of the system slaves will love it. No more cash - just digital transactions. No more traditional criminal activity. No more tax evasion. No more transactions without the "all seeing eye". Outcasts will hate the world without freedom, hope and privacy. To cover up the mess and distract the public by smoke and mirrors, the beast will engage in a war with Iran. Lies and deceit, corruption and decay, dancing on the graves will continue. Until; Black hole sun, won't you come, won't you come... I want to play a game. Time has come to opt out of the empire of filth. Live or die...
Judge Illston was an excellent lawyer before becoming an excellent district judge. She worked with the legendary Joe Crotchett in the dim & distant past.
I sure hope that this order holds and that the administration listens. Trump seems to do whatever he wants to do and ignores the justice system. He needs to be gone
only from this day forward, so that's what matters, I believe, they won't get compensated for example, by this order for the interim. It just states that the firings were unlawful in the first place, so therefore are void (Marbury v Madison) if they want to sue for damages, that is for them to do collectively or individually.
This order reads like a dispatch from Earth 1, describing the normal structure and workings of the governmental branches as I understood them to be prior to this past February. The transmission is faint; one can almost hear the static. I wish I could believe this opinion would do more than provide some of us a warm glow of nostalgia for the few weeks before it is inevitably overruled and we are left to face the bleak reality we find ourselves in here in 2025, on this accursed and stupidest of timelines.
Thank you for giving us this information, and hooray for Judge Susan Illston
Appreciated though if Congress won't defend its own powers, this will keep on happening.
My thoughts exactly.
Mr. Trump does not fare well in a variety of federal courts … no wonder he cherishes Aileen Cannon.
You’re always going to cherish the one you bought and paid for, until they are no longer useful to you.
It’s always Prom Night for MAGA—dateless again!
Once again, the courts seek to uphold the constitution. That this specifically states that the Article I powers of Congress have been usurped in this Executive Order is a very clear way to state the problem, I’ve just finished skimming the order, but going to read it again more thoroughly. Even more with this term, I wish I had gone to law school back when I was accepted in the 80’s so I could be fighting all of this in court. Sigh.
As a British lawyer I struggle with some of the detail so I appreciate your careful summaries. But the basic principle is the same in both jurisdictions- however much you dislike them court orders must be obeyed until they are successfully appealed or overturned by legislation. Unfortunately that is not presently being observed by the Trump regime which continues to ignore or lie about orders it dislikes even those few that have emanated so far from the SCOTUS vis Miller’s characterisation of the 9-0 order in the KAG case as being a win for the government.
Which brings me (finally) to my question- how do the courts enforce their orders if the government continues to ignore them?
Here's way more detail than you wanted. I suspect British courts have similar processes, since we borrowed all this from British law.
Courts have what are called contempt powers to enforce their orders. These usually involve fines, for instance, $100. per day paid by the ABC corporation until it stops pouring its filth into the river. In some instances, contempt power can be used to jail a recalcitrant defendant, for instance, hot shot reporter will remain in jail until they reveal their sources (ignore the 1st Am. issue here).
Finally, courts have bailiffs working for them. These guys, usually semi-retired law enforcement, keep order in the court every day. If a court finds a witness in contempt for failing to respond to its subpoena ordering them to appear to testify, the bailiff hunt them down and haul them into court.
We are in uncharted waters here with an executive branch going rogue while the legislative branch is paralyzed. I am less familiar with federal court procedures, but I believe the US Marshals enforce federal court contempt orders against individuals. I have seen some discussion that since the marshals are managed by the executive branch, they might refuse to haul Trump cronies into federal courts.
We are pretty much at a constitutional impasse here in my opinion. Note Abrego-Garcia is not home yet although the administration was ordered to do so. What does the court do? Assess fines? Jail Stephen Miller? This is like a law school hypothetical no one ever thought would come to pass in real life. All systems will break down when the participants do not act ethically and in good faith.
If the people keep hitting the streets, Republicans in Congress may eventually fear their constituents more than Trump. At which point, they will defy him and start exercising their Art. I powers. I'm glad the judge spelled that part out so clearly - so the people realize Congress is screwing us over here. Because the people are also part of checks and balances. They just need to realize they are being called to action.
Thanks, and I appreciate the detail. We do indeed have similar procedures with similar names, like habeas corpus and contempt of court with bailiffs to enforce it. (You might have heard tell of one Tommy Robinson who is presently in a UK prison for contempt of court though here there is a limit to the sentence of 2 years).
I have also read about the enforcement powers of Marshalls but my concern is slightly different from yours - that they will haul trump minions who are put forward “take the rap” into court and they will be sacrificed by this amoral regime whilst the real miscreants continue to monetise their power. Like you say the system breaks down when the participants or even just one of them stops acting in good faith.
Hopefully the Reps will come to fear their constituents sooner rather than later.
I'm heartened by this ruling and appreciate the detailed explanation. Interesting that Congress is crickets on this whole thing. So Trump runs a steamroller over 271 Republican Congresspeople, and a judge says he can't do what he's doing without Congressional approval.
What happens if they don't care?
Whats the likelihood Trump will try to push it through Congress to get the necessary aporoval?
Does it matter? There are always rubber meets the road restrictions on anything; in the meantime, we need to ignore his claims that he's exempt and not give them any oxygen
https://randoliberal.substack.com/p/we-are-not-at-war-with-venezuela?r=u47dz
we are not at war with Venezuela, President Trump is at war with The Constitution
Finally! A practical, thoughtful and well-reasoned decision that breaks through the procedural BS and lays out what was crystal-clear to anyone with a 5th grade understanding of the separation of powers: these destructive and rogue EOs, ruthlessly firing tens of thousands of dedicated civil servants with no Congressional approval, are illegal and unconstitutional. If the current GOP majority in Congress wasn’t comprised of hundreds of treasonous spineless traitors they would’ve impeached and convicted the president already.
Thank you Chris. A good
ruling from Illston.
Chis, thank you for your prompt reporting and updates. Will the Agencies RIF plans be available after submission period order, on Tuesday?
Worst is yet to come. Donald "The Beast" Trump is building a wall once again. Colossal tariff wall that is the beginning of the end for the system of down. At first the beast will pull the plug out of the global economy. The worst financial crisis of human history will pull a swarm of the banks underwater and the bank run begins. Then the beast will collapse a mountain of debt shattering the backbone of the monetary system causing a systemic risk to realize. Finally the beast will cast American citizens into a system slavery under the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan, just to "honor his legacy" count the number. After the destruction a new world order will be established in the US. And the Golden Age begins from the ruins of the world wide collapse. All of the system slaves will love it. No more cash - just digital transactions. No more traditional criminal activity. No more tax evasion. No more transactions without the "all seeing eye". Outcasts will hate the world without freedom, hope and privacy. To cover up the mess and distract the public by smoke and mirrors, the beast will engage in a war with Iran. Lies and deceit, corruption and decay, dancing on the graves will continue. Until; Black hole sun, won't you come, won't you come... I want to play a game. Time has come to opt out of the empire of filth. Live or die...
Judge Illston was an excellent lawyer before becoming an excellent district judge. She worked with the legendary Joe Crotchett in the dim & distant past.
I’m in DoD and took the DRP, my admin leave starts Wed. I don’t see DoD listed. Will I be able to take the DRP? I’m done with this place.
I sure hope that this order holds and that the administration listens. Trump seems to do whatever he wants to do and ignores the justice system. He needs to be gone
For now this action is forward-looking, but the lawsuit seeks to reverse past firings too, right?
only from this day forward, so that's what matters, I believe, they won't get compensated for example, by this order for the interim. It just states that the firings were unlawful in the first place, so therefore are void (Marbury v Madison) if they want to sue for damages, that is for them to do collectively or individually.