Legal Expert: Courts Can’t ‘Second Guess’ Trump Over Policy Disagreements

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig stated on Friday that a recent ruling by an appeals court clarifies that judges are not permitted to simply “second-guess” the decisions made by President Donald Trump merely because they hold differing opinions.

In a unanimous ruling on Thursday, a federal appeals court affirmed Trump’s ongoing deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles, asserting that he “lawfully exercised his statutory authority.” During an appearance on The Situation Room, Honig characterized the ruling as a “significant victory” for Trump and the authority of the executive branch.

“This is substantial, Pam, as it pertains to presidential powers and their scope,” Honig remarked to host Pamela Brown. “The fundamental ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals indicates that while federal courts do have a role in reviewing the president’s decision to deploy the National Guard, they cannot merely second-guess the president and overturn his decisions based on disagreement.”

“The court of appeals asserts that ‘we, as members of the federal judiciary, must afford considerable deference to the president; unless his decision is clearly unreasonable or made in bad faith, we must refrain from intervening and allow the president to exercise this authority. Therefore, this represents a significant victory for President Trump,’ Honig elaborated.

On June 8, President Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard alongside approximately 700 U.S. Marines to quell violent riots that erupted following Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids aimed at illegal immigrant criminals in the area. National Guard troops and Marines were positioned throughout the streets to disperse crowds as rioters set vehicles ablaze, threw Molotov cocktails, and assaulted law enforcement personnel.

The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that Emiliano Garduno-Galvez, a Mexican national who had previously been deported, is facing charges of attempted murder for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at ICE agents on June 7.

According to Bill Melugin from Fox News, rioters also threw rocks at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents as they attempted to exit Paramount, California, resulting in a minor hand injury to one agent when a rock broke the windshield of their vehicle.

In response to the appeals court’s decision, Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom attempted to reinterpret the significant victory for Trump by asserting that the president “is not a king and is not above the law.” “We will continue our challenge against President Trump’s authoritarian deployment of U.S. military personnel against citizens,” the governor stated.

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On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision to permit lawsuits against Palestinian organizations concerning U.S. citizens who have been injured or killed in acts of terrorism.Chief Justice John Roberts delivered a unanimous ruling on Friday, affirming that Congress’s recent effort to subject the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to federal court jurisdiction is constitutionally valid under the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2019, following the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ invalidation of the law.

One of the lawsuits was initiated by the family of Ari Yoel Fuld, a U.S. citizen who was sadly stabbed during a terrorist attack in the West Bank in September 2018.

On Wednesday, the court upheld Tennessee’s prohibition on transgender surgeries for minors in a significant 6-3 ruling, which bolsters the initiatives of conservative state legislators aimed at safeguarding children from irreversible bodily changes.

Since 2020, states led by Republicans have implemented a variety of laws that regulate the lives of transgender individuals, with a particular emphasis on minors.

President Trump, who ran on a platform to end what he referred to as “transgender lunacy,” also took measures to overturn the policies of the Biden administration that many perceived as detrimental to children.