Trump, Vance and Musk take aim at the courts as judges halt some of 2nd term agenda
President Donald Trump and key members of his administration are lashing out at judges who have blocked some of his second-term agenda, suggesting they don't have the authority to question his executive power.
So far, the courts have pushed back on Trump's attempts to end birthright citizenship, freeze federal grants, and the overhaul of federal agencies like USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Over the weekend, the administration hit another roadblock when a federal judge temporarily restricted Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the Treasury Department's vast federal payment system, which contains sensitive information of millions of Americans.
Musk accused the judge of being "corrupt" and called for him to be immediately impeached.
Vice President JD Vance, as he's done before, questioned judicial oversight of the executive branch. In an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos last year, Vance suggested a president can ignore a court's order -- even a Supreme Court order -- he considers illegitimate.
"If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that's also illegal. Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power," Vance said over the weekend.
(On Monday, a federal judge for the first time said the Trump administration defied a court order when it came to halting Trump's federal spending freeze. The judge ordered the government to "immediately restore frozen funding.")
Trump was asked on Sunday about Vance's comments and some of his setbacks in court.
"When a president can't look for fraud and waste and abuse, we don't have a country anymore," Trump told reporters. "So, we're very disappointed, but with the judges that would make such a ruling. But we have a long way to go."
"No judge should, frankly, be allowed to make that kind of a decision," the president added. "It's a disgrace."
Their pushback against the judiciary comes as Trump and his allies assert a sweeping theory of presidential power, one they say gives him sole control of the executive branch. Legal experts told ABC News they believe the Trump administration is trying to set up cases to test that theory before the Supreme Court.
Democrats say Trump is trying to subvert checks and balances under the U.S. Constitution, including the role of Congress in setting the scope of federal agencies and conducting oversight.
"I think this is the most serious constitutional crisis the country has faced certainly since Watergate," Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "The president is attempting to seize control of power, and for corrupt purposes."
California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff responded directly to Vance's suggestion judges aren't "allowed to control" Trump's executive power on X, writing: "JD, we both went to law school. But we don't have to be lawyers to know that ignoring court decisions we don't like puts us on a dangerous path to lawlessness."
Republicans are largely aligned behind the president. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton slammed the judge who blocked DOGE's access to Treasury data as an "outlaw." Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, largely defended Musk's actions as "carrying out the will" of Trump on CNN on Sunday.
Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law expert at the University of North Carolina, told ABC News Trump's rhetoric is largely "bravado" as "judges are entitled to review the constitutionality of presidential actions."
"The conflict between the Trump administration and the courts is not just brewing; it is likely to persist throughout his second term," Gerhardt said, noting Trump has a long history of criticizing judges with whom he disagrees even if they were appointed by Republican presidents.
"I think this battle will define Trump's presidency," Gerhardt added.
