OPINION:
Federal judges are now the last and only defense for Washington’s big spenders. Magistrates across several blue jurisdictions issued multiple orders this week blocking President Trump from acting to impede bureaucratic profligacy.
Democrats shopped with care for jurists they knew would be receptive to their late-night pleas. In New York, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a sweeping and vague order at 1 a.m. Saturday. The Democratic donor didn’t bother hearing the other side of the story before barring “political appointees” from accessing the Treasury Department’s spending ledger.
Justice Department attorneys waited until normal business hours Monday to point out the absurdity of restraining Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s activities within his department. When called to review her colleague’s mandate, Judge Jeannette Vargas restored Mr. Bessent’s authority to look at the books. She will review the issue more thoroughly on Friday.
In the District of Columbia, U.S. District Judge John Bates issued the most preposterous decree of all. The appointee of President George W. Bush directed various health-related federal departments to restore webpages written by the Biden administration. These resources were deleted after Mr. Trump signed an executive order prohibiting agencies from promoting the mutilation of children or spreading material that would “otherwise inculcate gender ideology.”
The new administration’s game plan seems to allow the courts to make decisions that micromanage the presidency. The more extreme these temporary rulings are, the less likely they are to hold up to scrutiny, considering the president alone is entrusted with the duty to ensure that laws are faithfully executed.
“How can a judge want to hold us back from finding all this fraud and finding all this incompetence? Why would that happen?” Mr. Trump asked from the Oval Office on Tuesday. “I always abide by the courts, but then I have to appeal it. What he’s done is slow down the momentum and given crooked people more time to cover up the books.”
Some conservatives are urging the president to ignore the lawless orders. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says nationwide injunctions are “legally and historically dubious.” We are on track to have almost as many of these questionable commands issued in a month than were issued in all of the 20th century.
The federal system has 670 district judges of limited jurisdiction. A constitutional imbalance is created if one of these inferior magistrates can direct the activities of an entire branch of government, especially when that individual may have a recognizable bias.
In Rhode Island, Judge John McConnell Jr. ordered the president to open the monetary spigots after declaring a funding freeze would “cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country.” The Obama appointee isn’t just a small-time contributor to the Democratic Party. Over his lifetime, he has given more than $400,000 to left-wing candidates and political action committees.
Justice Department officials decided this was the right case to challenge before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The timing couldn’t be better, as even CBS News acknowledges that the public is happy with the new administration. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said they “mostly like” what Mr. Trump is doing as president. Another 68% want him to keep cutting government spending.
That makes patience, not defiance, the wiser course. Democrats would love nothing more than to paint Mr. Trump as the villain for ignoring court orders, but Mr. Trump can afford to wait.
Time and the electorate are on his side.
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