Chuck Schumer Warns Provision In GOP Budget Will Aid Government Officials In Defying Court Orders

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about a provision in the Republican budget that he warns will restrict judges' ability to hold officials in contempt for violating court orders.

Transcript

00:00Now on the courts, we all know that Donald Trump sees himself as a king more

00:07than he does a president. He said it himself. Well, the Republicans' so-called

00:13Big Beautiful Bill will effectively place a crown on Donald Trump's head.

00:19Buried deep in the Republicans' bill is a nasty provision that would restrict the

00:24power of judges to hold government officials in contempt for violating

00:27court orders. The goal of this provision is very obvious. Republicans want to

00:33codify Donald Trump's attacks on our judiciary into law. When Senate

00:39Republicans include this lawless provision in their bill, Democrats will use every

00:43procedural hurdle in existence to kill it, including the birdbath process. Because

00:51this type of draconian provision is a better fit for a dictatorship than for a

00:56democracy. Republicans want to defang the power of the courts. They want to make

01:02it easier, in effect, for the Trump administration to defy court rulings. If

01:09judges can't hold intransigent public officials in contempt, the judges' rulings

01:14are basically meaningless. Why bother having courts if you're just going to ignore them?

01:20This is a naked attack on the separation of powers, a very serious and damaging one if

01:27it ever would be enacted. If Republicans think they can pull a fast one on our courts by slipping

01:34this devious provision into their bill, they're dead wrong. Democrats will fight with every

01:40tool we have to stop this provision from ever, ever becoming law.

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