Federal Judge Rules the White House Failed to Comply With Court Order

Is this beginning of defiance of rule of law?

The US moved a step closer to a constitutional crisis on Monday when a Federal Judge ruled that the Trump administration has defied its previous order to release billions of dollars worth of frozen federal grant monies. This is an important first — it marks the first time an federal judge has directly declared that the Trump White House had defied a judicial mandate. Many legal scholars believe that the end game of the current legal challenges to the Trump administration’s moves will be precisely this — pen defiance of federal court orders, including the Supreme Court, by the White House.

In his ruling, Judge John J. McConnell Jr of Rhode Island stated forcefully that the Trump administration had failed to comply with “the plaint text” of an order issued last month.

COMMENT: This is a developing story and is a clear escalation in the direction of a constitutional crisis in which the Executive and Judicial branches would be in direct confrontation. This comes as JD Vance recently posted “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” likely signaling the position the Trump administration will take.