WASHINGTON — Speaking to a federal judge in July 2019, a Justice Department attorney made a statement that summed up former President Donald Trump’s hip and often chaotic form of administration.
“This morning’s tweet was the first tweet I’ve heard the president take on this issue,” Joshua Gardner told Judge George Hazel, who is based in Maryland.
Gardner was trying to explain to the judge why the Trump administration is the way it is completely changed its legal position In a high-profile and ultimately doomed attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
Last week, the Supreme Court issued such a decision prevented the administration tried to add the question, and the Justice Department admitted it had no way to revisit the issue with time running out to finalize the census documents.
But then Trump stepped in with one of his signature tweets, saying the administration was “fully moving forward” with the plan.
The move put Justice Department lawyers on edge, led to the replacement of the entire legal team, and days later the administration still ended up in defeat. withdrew.
The incident was just one example of how Trump’s impulsive leadership style and often controversial statements have complicated the administration’s numerous lawsuits during his tenure. There is little to suggest the second term will be any different.
“I think past is prologue,” said a senior lawyer in the Trump administration. “There have been many instances where the president’s statements have made life difficult for lawyers at the Justice Department.”
But, the attorney said, in the Census case and other similar cases, the administration ultimately stalled when officials advised Trump there was no viable path forward.
“I’ve never been in a situation where President Trump didn’t try to follow the law, or when he advised me on the law, he told me he didn’t care,” the lawyer said.
Trump has already announced that he will take the same provocative policy steps in his second term as he did in his first term, including a promise to end on the first day of his return to office. citizenship by birthIt has long been understood that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution clearly states.
Likewise, his controversial and ambitious proposal to deport millions of people who entered the United States illegally could face legal challenges on multiple fronts. For example, Trump has proposed withholding federal funds from states that refuse to help with the effort.
Other potential policy measures, such as denying federal funds to schools that try to accommodate transgender students, are almost certain to lead to litigation.
Trump’s promise to use the federal government, potentially even the military he punishes those who criticize him will also raise legal questions.
For American Civil Liberties Union attorney Adriel Cepeda-Derieux, who is working on the census lawsuit against Trump, the worry is that administration lawyers will be better prepared the second time around.
“What we’re preparing for the chance of a second Trump administration is, frankly, better organization of the legal maneuvering that they’re going to try to do,” he said.
In the citizenship case and other cases in the first period, “lawyers were kind of playing with the reasoning from the administration,” he said.
“Tough Calls”
A second-term Trump Justice Department has outlined a playbook for how to address some of these issues a chapter About the department in Project 2025, a publication written by close Trump allies, many of whom are expected to serve in his administration.
The Justice Department, despite its tradition of independence from presidents, must follow their orders even if it causes problems for career employees, wrote Gene Hamilton, a lawyer who served in Trump’s first term and is now with the pro-Trump group America. The First Right.
“This could force civil rights advocates to take uncomfortable positions in civil cases because those positions are more closely aligned with the president’s policy agenda,” he said. The department will have to make “tough calls” that “must always be consistent with the president’s policy agenda,” he wrote.
Hamilton and the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Billy Williams, who served as U.S. attorney in Oregon during the Trump administration, said there has always been tension between political appointees and career lawyers at the Justice Department, but there are limits to how far the latter can go.
“If you’re asked to do something and your analysis is that it’s not legal, I think you have an ethical obligation to say you’re not going to do it,” he said. “It can have a cost, no question.”
In the first term, Trump’s top-down statements without proper preparation caused his administration to pay the price in court.
He also lost high-level jobs, as did the issue of citizenship 2020 case The Supreme Court blocked Trump from opening a program that shields young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation.
The administration’s controversial introduction of a travel ban on people entering the United States from various Muslim-majority countries early in the administration was also problematic. After court rulings blocked the original plan, a watered-down version eventually replaced it and became Approved by the Supreme Court.
In a glimpse of how Trump could stifle civil liberties, he faced heavy criticism in 2020 for ordering a harsh response to racial justice protests that led to scenes of violence, particularly in Washington. Portland, Oregon.
Separately, Trump has faced intense scrutiny over his actions in office, which have led to two attempts to remove him from office through impeachment, in addition to the criminal charges he is still fighting.
Although the Supreme Court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority that includes three of Trump’s appointees, Doug Letter, a longtime former Justice Department lawyer, doesn’t think Trump will always get his way in a second term.
Letter resigned during Trump’s presidency and joined legal battles against the administration while working for Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., then the speaker of the House.
“Will there be incredible disruption and sabotage? “Yes, it will,” he said, “but I don’t think Trump will be able to do everything he wants because of the courts.”