In a huge announcement on CNN, the network’s top legal analyst, Elie Honig, explained how the courtroom battle between Trump and Newsom over deploying National Guard troopers to Los Angeles could, if the Democrats play their hand poorly, lead to federal judges losing a substantial amount of power and becoming next to impotent when trying to stop Trump.
As background, on Friday, June 20, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found in a unanimous ruling that President Trump had the power to federalize and deploy thousands of troopers in the California National Guard to LA to fight the anti-ICE rioters. Trump described the ruling as a “Big Win.” Now, Newsom has to deccide if he wants to take the ruling to the Supreme Court and argue that the lower court was right in issuing an injuction on Trump.
Honig argued that if Gov. Newsom does that, the Supreme Court could block the lower-level federal judges in the district courts from issuing nationwide injunctions, a perpetual issue for the Trump Administration, something that would significantly hamstring the woke judges who have done so much to block Trump from implementing his agenda.
Describing that problem, Honig explained that Gov. Newsom is likely being told he doesn’t want to take this to SCOTUS, saying, “If I was in California’s legal position here, I would tell the governor, you don’t wanna appeal this. You don’t wanna bring this up to the Supreme Court. I think you’re going to lose.”
Continuing, Honig explained that the Supreme Court could well rule that a district-level judge can’t block Trump from implementing his agenda, saying, “I think if you look at this opinion, it was a three-to-zero unanimous opinion from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. You had two Trump appointees and a Biden appointee on that court. I don’t see any way any of the six conservatives on the Supreme Court say ‘sure, a trial-level district judge can overrule the president on this issue just because he disagrees.’”
Honig further added that some of the liberals on the court could even go along with such a ruling, as this is turning into a major issue that is significantly degrading the public’s support for the judiciary. He said, “I even think some of the liberals might join with the conservatives on this, as we saw with the Biden appointee.”
Honig concluded by noting that the Supreme Court’s decision on that matter would be a nationwide defeat for Democrats, saying, “If they do bring it up to the Supreme Court, California, and if the Supreme Court again rules in favor of the Trump administration, then that’s going to be nationwide, an even bigger loss for California.”
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Watch Honig here:
Honig made much the same point during an appearance on “The Situation Room” with Kate Bolduan, the Daily Caller reported. He said, commetning on the general matter, “It’s huge . . . because it goes to presidential powers and the extent of them. So the core ruling here from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is yes, the federal courts have some role in reviewing the president’s decision to deploy the National Guard, however, the courts cannot just second guess the president and overturn him if they disagree.”
He further noted, “The court of appeals says ‘we, all of us, in the federal judiciary, we have to give very broad deference to the president, so unless his decision is patently absurd or based on bad faith, then we have to step back and let the president exercise this power. So it’s a big win for President Trump.”