Analysis of the week in politics – which was dominated by the Trump administration’s deportations of Venezuelans and the ensuing legal showdown with a federal judge.
SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
We begin today with a question that’s become something of a refrain the last several weeks – is the U.S. in a constitutional crisis? The question’s taken on new urgency amid a showdown between a federal judge, James Boasberg, and the Trump administration. At issue, the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans it claims belong to a criminal gang.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They’re tough people. They’re bad people. We don’t want them in our country, and we can’t let a judge say that he wants them. You know, he didn’t run for president.
MCCAMMON: President Trump, speaking yesterday at the White House. And joining us now is NPR senior contributor Ron Elving. Hi, Ron. Good morning.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Sarah.
MCCAMMON: So to that question that keeps getting invoked, what do you say, Ron, is a constitutional crisis at hand?
ELVING: We do seem to be walking up to it. The phrase refers to a conflict between constitutional powers that has no clear resolution in the Constitution itself. Now, Trump suggests that a judge cannot contradict him because that judge didn’t run for president. One has to wonder, does Trump understand and accept that the courts are meant to act as a check on the elected branches, the Congress and the presidency?
This one deportation case is going to an appeals court next week, but there are more than a dozen court rulings out there against Trump so far. They’re being appealed, and at least some of them will probably reach the Supreme Court. So how far is Trump prepared to go in pursuing his version of reality here? So far, at least, Trump has said he will not defy court orders. He will appeal them and rail against them, and call for impeachment of the judge, but he has not yet said he will defy the courts outright.
MCCAMMON: So sticking with immigration for a second, there were some notable cuts announced yesterday to a division within the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS. What can you tell us about those?
ELVING: The DHS is cutting jobs at its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and in the offices of the Ombudsman for Immigration Detention and the Ombudsman for Citizenship and Immigration Services. The DHS spokesman told NPR Friday that these offices, quote, “obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHS’ mission,” unquote. Well, their job was to provide in-house oversight and restraint on this powerful agency and make sure it stays within the law and follows its own mandates. That’s what watchdogs do. That’s what ombudsman offices are for. But here, as with the inspectors general Trump has fired in various agencies, the new administration sees these watchdogs and guardrails as impediments. And the Trump question is, why should anyone have any authority over these agencies other than the president? People can tell him that this is based on the laws and regulations as written and ultimately in the constitutional separation of powers, but it’s not clear he accepts that answer.
MCCAMMON: Now, I think it’s worth noting it has not even been a week since members of the Trump administration and the DOGE team took over the U.S. Institute of Peace, which is a congressionally funded think tank. Where is Congress in all of this?
ELVING: Now, that could be the question of the year, Sarah. But let’s start with the Institute of Peace. It was created by an act of Congress 40 years ago under President Reagan. Its mission is to prevent or resolve violent conflicts in other countries. The institute calls itself independent and says its employees are not federal workers. But the White House says the president considers the institute to be, quote, “one of his agencies,” unquote, and it says the institute employees are rogue bureaucrats. As for the pushback from Congress, well, Republican Party controls both House and Senate, and it’s been very much on board for Trump, and so far, at least, for Elon Musk, as well. The Democrats, meanwhile, are debating how to resist Trump without making bad things happen, like a government shutdown, and how to resist without doing damage to their own interests and those of their voters.
MCCAMMON: That’s NPR’s Ron Elving. Thanks so much for your time, Ron.
ELVING: Thank you, Sarah.
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