What Happens When Trump Disobeys The Courts

LOADING ERROR LOADING President Donald Trump has been on a collision course with the federal judiciary since he took office in January. Win McNamee via Getty Images Administration lawyers made numerous claims to argue either that they did not violate Boasberg’s order or that his orders have no power to control the executive branch’s actions here. They claim that Boasberg’s verbal bench order was insufficient; his order had no controlling authority on planes outside U.S. airspace; the detainees had already arrived in El Salvador by the time he released a written order; and the flight that was still in the air contained detainees subject to a different presidential power than the one at issue in the court case. Secretary of State Marco Rubio retweeted a post by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele responding to Boasberg’s order that read: “Oopsie … Too late,” followed by a crying-laughing emoji. Having asserted total control over the Justice Department already, Trump could in theory simply order the Marshals Service to not obey the court’s order to jail an official or collect a fine.