Out of the gate, the Trump administration’s agenda has been laser-focused and decisive: fundamentally fixing government and removing the waste, fraud, and woke. At first it seemed that there was nothing that could stop the massive changes. Until the courts got involved.

Become a Monthly Ministry Partner today.

View Comments (11)

In just two short months, over 120 lawsuits have been filed against the Trump agenda, which is more lawsuits than executive orders. Lawfare is the left’s favorite way to battle and they have used it to attempt to grind the wheels of the Trump administration to a halt. Who is behind this massive lawfare campaign? Is the power being taken out of the hands of the elected and put into the hands of lawyers and judges? Do activist district judges now have more power than a president?

Take the recent judge vs. Trump example of the deportations of dangerous criminals. The Trump administration’s response has been resolute.

Judge Boasberg of the United States District Court of the District of Columbia has been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration’s deportation of dangerous criminals from Venezuela. In fact, Boasberg issued a stay to keep the flights of Tren de Argua gang members from leaving U.S. soil despite the fact that the administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act.  Flights left anyway, reportedly in flight before the judge’s stay was received. These criminals were headed for imprisonment in El Salvador.  In a show of force, the White House showed the deplaning of the dangerous criminals into the hands of the waiting prison officials in El Salvador. Judge Boasberg spoke out against the action, clearly dismayed that his stay order did not cause planes to turn back around to the U.S.

From the Press Room podium, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the judge’s actions, “You cannot have a low-level district court judge filing an injunction to usurp the executive authority of the President of the United States.”

One must ask, who could be against the apprehension of criminals and the deportation of these illegal gang members? Indeed not Laken Riley’s family.  In fact, according to an AP-NROC poll, “83 percent of Americans support deporting migrants living in the U.S. illegally who have been convicted of a violent crime.” It is the ACLU which filed the suit against the Trump administration and doing so in the liberal-leaning district of the District of Columbia where the likelihood of a sympathizing judge would be found.  This is just one of over 100 examples of lawsuits designed to tie up resources, time, and public sentiment, hoping to at the very least, slow down the Trump administration.

This week, IFA sought an expert’s insight on this troubling issue for the webcast Pray with America’s Leaders, and also held a focused time of prayer about the judicial overreach we are seeing. Phillip Jauregui of Judicial Action Group, shared a couple of key points.

With the increase in judicial activism, the courts are in real danger of being seen and treated as runaway courts. The danger is that the administration or even Congress, can choose to disregard the court’s opinions, especially with public sentiment behind them. It has happened in the past. Jauregui cited incidents both in the Lincoln administration and the Jackson administration.

Jauregui shared, “The Supreme Court issued an opinion and Andrew Jackson said, well, the Supreme Court has made its ruling now. Let them enforce it. In other words, I’m the president.  I enforce the law.
You can write it down on paper with your pen, but I’m not following it. And that has happened. And this is a problem for the judiciary because their power depends upon the other branches acquiescing or showing honor to them. What happens when the judicial branch is so dishonorable that the people, the members of Congress, the administration are sick of it?”

The hope is that the courts get themselves in order from the inside instead of forcing intervention from another branch of government.

Other than prayer, which is immensely critical in turning around this issue, there are some things that can be done to put pressure on the Courts to consider the bounds of their constitutional role. The Supreme Court needs to head that effort of speaking into the conduct of the lower courts.

One suggestion Jauregui had was using the purse strings of Congress to consider cost-cutting in the courts. One of the ways the Congress has been able to bring change is through the funding or defunding of programs or departments. Subjecting the courts to potential evaluation of the budget (and even a visit from Elon Musk and DOGE) may be a reminder to the courts that they are but one of three branches of federal government.

You can see Phillip Jauregui’s entire interview here. You can also download IFA’s special report on the power struggle between activist judges and the Trump administration. The special report contains profiles of several activist judges, a list of lawsuits against the Trump administration, and suggestions on how we can pray about this constitutional crisis.

What scriptures do you see as bringing biblical insight into this situation? Share in the comments below.

(Kris Kubal is IFA’s Chief Program Officer. Photo Credit: archivesnews)