This New York Times essay from the start of President Trump’s second term provides the overall framework for understanding what tools federal courts have to deal with potential executive branch defiance of court orders and what the dynamics between courts and the executive branch are likely to look like should the executive come close to the line of ignoring court orders or crossing that line. Rather than update this to keep track of ongoing litigation developments, we consider it most useful to provide the overall general framework for understanding potential court-executive branch dynamics and tensions. Read the full article here.

“Are we heading toward a full-blown constitutional crisis? For the first time in decades, the country is wrestling with this question. It was provoked by members of the Trump administration — including Russell Vought, the influential director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Stephen Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff — who have hinted or walked right up to the edge of saying outright that officials should refuse to obey a court order against certain actions of the administration. President Trump has said he would obey court orders — though on Saturday he posted on social media, “He who saves his country does not violate any law.”

Some have argued that if the administration is defiant, there is little the courts can do. But while the courts do not have a standing army, there are actually several escalating measures they can take to counter a defiant executive branch.”

Trevor Morrison and Richard Pildes, Professors at NYU School of Law