“The Federalist” editor in chief Mollie Hemingway asked Karoline Leavitt from the “New Media Seat” at Thursday’s WH briefing what the administration is doing to counter judicial rulings blocking its executive actions. “White House adviser Stephen Miller says it’s judicial tyranny. Some people are calling it a judicial coup,” Hemingway said. “You’re saying you’re responding to each and every one of these actions/efforts by these judges to delay or thwart the implementation of the agenda. But is there going to be anything more than that, or is it just going to let this operation continue even though it could delay everything for years until the presidency is over?”

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST: In the first Trump administration, there was an effort to stymie the agenda through the Russia collusion hoax, perpetuated by many people in the media, including some people seated here-or the media outlets they represent-and other Democrats as well. The second Trump administration, to reference what you said at the beginning, seems to be subject to an effort to stymie the agenda using rogue lower court judges. You mentioned that the Supreme Court could and should do something to rein in these lower court judges. Also, Congress could do something about it, but they don’t seem terribly interested in it. It also seems there’s not much of an actual coordinated effort from this White House to take and tackle this effort from judges, Democrats, and other people using these judges to stymie the agenda. Is there an actual effort by this White House to tackle this issue in a comprehensive way, and if so, what is it? WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL: There is an effort by this administration to tackle these rogue judges and the injunctions and the blockades that we have faced in our broken judicial system in every case. I mean, we have seen time and time again these lower district court judges ruling against this administration-and the president’s basic executive authority and powers-and this administration is fighting every single one of those battles in court. Including already the block that came down from the tariff court, the IEPA court, last night. And as I was on my way out here to the briefing room, I understand that there was another district court judge right here in Washington, D.C., who ruled against the president’s tariff power. And I will get to the heart of your question, and I’m glad that we are addressing this in the room today, because nationwide injunctions ordered against the first Trump administration-Trump 1.0-account for more than half of the injunctions issued in this country since 1963. And President Trump had more injunctions in one full month of office, in February, than Joe Biden had in three years. Let me roll through some of these radical injunctions to paint the picture for the American people at home. These are not just talking points. These are real judges in a court of law who are trying to block the president’s power and the policies that he was elected to enact. For example: – A court ordered the Trump administration to return already deported terrorist aliens back to the United States. – A court ruled the Trump administration can’t even temporarily pause our refugee programs. – Courts prohibited the Trump administration from eliminating federal funding for child transgender surgery and mutilation-a practice that the American people overwhelmingly reject. – A court also held that the Trump administration could not ban people experiencing gender dysphoria or mental health issues from serving in the military. Ridiculous. – Courts prohibited the removal of transgender women from women’s prisons, despite potential physical harm to real women in those prisons-biological women. – A Northern District of California judge issued an absurd ruling that the president cannot fire people within the executive branch without Congress passing a bill, even though Congress has expressly authorized the president through the Office of Personnel Management to authorize reductions in force across agencies. – A court also ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of already fired employees in several cases. – A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from defunding the Department of Education-another signature campaign promise that this president has the power to implement. – Courts ordered the Trump administration could not eliminate funding for illegal DEI programs-hence the word illegal. These are illegal programs to begin with, and now the courts are trying to say this president can’t roll them back. – A district court judge prohibited the president from issuing any categorical funding freezes. – Then another court ordered-on top of that-the administration make $ 2 billion of payments in 36 hours. These are just a few of the ridiculous orders that we have seen from lower district court judges every day. And we hope that the Supreme Court will weigh in and rein them in. MOLLIE HEMINGWAY: White House adviser Stephen Miller says it’s judicial tyranny. Some people are calling it a judicial coup. You’re saying you’re responding to each and every one of these actions/efforts by these judges to delay or thwart the implementation of the agenda. But is there going to be anything more than that, or is it just going to let this operation continue even though it could delay everything for years until the presidency is over? KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE: The administration is operating under the directive given from the president that we need to comply with the court’s orders. He’s made that very clear. But we’re going to fight them in court, and we’re going to win on the merits of these cases because we know we are acting within the president’s legal and executive authorities.

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