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House Republicans included a provision in their tax cut legislation for the wealthy that would allow the Trump administration to avoid punishment and citations for contempt retroactively. The provision would allow Trump to ignore court orders.
Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) made the case for Senate Republicans to remove the provision from the bill:
Senate Republicans must remove from their proposed budget reconciliation bill Section 70302, a blatantly unconstitutional measure that allows the Administration to defy court orders by purporting to strip courts of their inherent power to hold to account anyone—including government officials—who defies court orders.
This provision specifically targets lawsuits against the government—and other suits that serve the public interest. It threatens all past, pending, and future court orders against the Trump Administration—and any future Administration. It essentially gives Trump and his allies license to defy federal judges without consequence. In courtrooms across America, Americans abide by court orders every day, or face contempt findings, yet Congressional Republicans want to force courts to give government officials a special royal treatment.
As President Trump confronts loss after loss in court, he has begun to chafe under the courts’ authority to administer justice. Congressional Republicans, responding to the Trump Administration’s public attacks on the legitimacy of federal courts, have decided to throw the Constitution and the rule of law out the window. This provision would shackle federal courts’ ability to hold Trump Administration officials in contempt in cases challenging President Trump’s unconstitutional actions.
