Press Releases

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the witnesses for your appearance today.

Of the many troubling actions the Trump administration has taken in its first 71 days, the most damaging are his aggressive use of authoritarian, dictatorial, and unprecedented use of presidential power to instill fear, intimidate, and exact revenge and punish those who dare to stand up to him and hold him accountable to the laws of our nation. 

A climate of fear and trepidation has descended upon the nation. The people of America are more afraid today for our democracy and for their personal safety than ever in our lifetimes. College students have disappeared off the streets, paramilitary style, by plain-clothes, mask-wearing individuals and held incognito for days before they are discovered thousands of miles away in some private, for-profit ICE detention facility. Why? For exercising their free speech and First Amendment rights. Universities—bastons of free thought---have been punished for having the “wrong ideology” by having their federal funding revoked. And major law firms who dared have cases against him were targeted with executive orders that, if allowed to stand, would shut those law firms down. 

Unfortunately, mega law firms Paul Weiss and Skadden, Arps chose to settle with the king by pledging to represent pro bono only those persons and causes that the king approved of. Shame on them. Then there are other law firms that have stood up to King Trump. And they have challenged his executive orders against them in court, and they have won. Kudos to the lawyers at Perkins Coie, Covington & Burling, and Jenner & Block, among others, for standing up for themselves.

Although federal courts have consistently ruled against these executive orders, the mere existence of these retaliatory orders should be chilling to us all. There has been no semblance of due process or fairness in any of these cases. Trump acts first – he deports first, revokes funding first, blacklists law firms first – and then questions anyone who challenges him later. 

Somehow, in spite of this, we are here today to talk about the quote “overreach” of the federal courts, not the executive branch official doing the overreaching. 

Our Republican colleagues want us to believe that simply because the courts are exercising their Article III power of equitable relief to temporarily halt some of Trump’s most excessive executive actions, it is a sign of rot in our judicial system. That it is somehow our courts and judges—not the president—who have gone “rogue” and are “overreaching”.

I disagree. But more importantly, so do the numbers. Since day one of his second term, Trump has attempted to rework our constitutional system of government through presidential fiat, issuing a record 107 executive orders in his first 71 days in office. As I mentioned, many of these executive orders are unlawful or unconstitutional, and the president does not have the power to change the constitution through executive order, even if his name is Donald Trump. 

Naturally, they have been challenged in court. Of the over-150 cases against the Trump administration, judges have ruled against him 46 times. Of those 46, only 17 are “nationwide” injunctions. The cases are spread across district courts throughout the country and judges appointed by conservative and liberal presidents. 

What we are seeing playing out in courts across the country today is the judicial system working exactly as it should. America’s federal courts have been handed case after case of executive order standing on questionable legal footing. And yet the proportionally small number of “nationwide” injunctions shows the restraint exhibited by the judges considering the cases. 

I don’t know what Donald Trump thought would happen when the cases made their way to the judicial branch. But clearly he has had enough with losing in court. Instead of letting the rule of law play out Trump and his allies have chosen to go on the attack. 

Trump and his cronies have called federal judges “rogue,” and “corrupt,” suggested a judge supports “terrorists,” and called rulings a “judicial coup.” MAGA Republicans in Congress have called judges to be impeached just for ruling against him. And far-right media personalities have attacked the judges’ families, publicizing their personal information for millions of followers on social media. 

What I just described is nothing less than a full-scale assault on our entire judicial system, and it is putting judges, their families, and their staff’s lives at risk. We don’t agree on much on this committee, but we should be able to agree that this is wrong. And we should be able to agree to back away from language demonizing the judicial branch, no matter what political party we belong to. 

Today’s hearing is not just about helping Donald Trump undermine the judicial branch—though it is certainly about that. Republicans on this committee are sending a message to anyone who dares stand up to Donald Trump: If you step out of line, they will target you next. 

We cannot afford to allow what Donald Trump is doing—through retaliatory executive orders, through targeting immigrants, through vilifying judges—to become normal. Our constitution is being tested, and throughout American history it has stood up to attempts to weaken its protections. 

Americans across the country are watching, and they know they didn’t vote for Trump to destroy our democracy. They voted for Trump because he promised to lower the cost of living, and Trump has betrayed their trust. Prices are going up and our economy is headed towards recession as co-president Musk threatens to take away people’s social security, Medicaid. Medicare, SNAP benefits and veterans’ care. Trump is doing nothing to deliver on the promises to the American people. 

I stand with my fellow Americans, and with the federal judges who continue to bravely do their jobs in the face of criticism. 

I yield back.