In less than a month in office, President Trump has signed dozens of executive orders that are now facing pushback in the courts.
Many are wondering: What happens if he simply ignores them?
Law professors who spoke to NPR saw warning signs of a constitutional crisis based on a recent court order and comments from the vice president over the weekend.
On Monday, a federal judge in Rhode Island found the White House had defied an earlier court order to unfreeze federal grant and program funds. U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. ordered the administration to immediately end any federal funding pause.
That court order came a day after Vice President Vance suggested that judges don’t have the ability to challenge President Trump’s “legitimate power.”
Vance wrote on X, “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.”
Federal judges like McConnell have the power to levy fines and find parties in contempt for not following his orders. But that’s generally considered toothless enforcement, according to experts.
Trump has been openly critical of the courts, over the weekend calling a judge’s order against Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team “a disgrace.“
But on Tuesday, Trump said he would comply with court rulings against DOGE. “I always abide by the courts. Always abide by them, and we’ll appeal,” he said.
Law experts say it hasn’t reached a full-blown crisis quite yet
Kristin Hickman, a professor of administrative law at the University of Minnesota Law School, urges caution on talk of a constitutional crisis.
The Trump administration is still entrenched in legal fights in the lower courts and, so far, has not defied any orders from the U.S. Supreme Court, the nation’s highest court, she noted.
“We’re not there yet and we have no guarantee we’re ever going to get there. It is not healthy for our body politic for us to overreact and roll around a lot of overheated rhetoric,” she said.
