The Trump court crisis

Axios -  Many top legal experts believe a full-blown constitutional showdown between President Trump and the courts is already here. Others are confident there's still room to avoid one...But most agree that the administration's battle with U.S. District Judge James "Jeb" Boasberg — who last weekend ordered a temporary halt to the administration's deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members — is a significant escalation.

Conservative lawyer John Yoo — a Trump ally who has advanced one of the most sweeping theories of presidential power — told Fox News Digital: "I worry that there might be some people in the administration who would actually like to defy a judicial order. Which I think would be a terrible mistake."

"If the courts can't render reliable decisions, then our legal system doesn't function," Yoo added.

Senior members of the Trump administration and the MAGAverse have been talking for months about simply ignoring court orders they don't like. Now, the talk is being tested....

• Trump lawyers have made narrow arguments in court that the administration didn't intentionally violate the order by Boasberg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to halt the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members.

 Over the past week, the administration's legal tactics also grew more aggressive. Lawyers refused to turn over information Boasberg requested, and petitioned a higher court to remove him from the case.

• The Justice Department asked that Boasberg and another federal judge, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, be removed from pending cases — requests that are almost never granted. Trump said the Senate should impeach Boasberg, which drew a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts.
• Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island said the administration's stance on freezing federal funding undermines "the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government." Last month, McConnell wrote that the administration was violating "the plain text" of a temporary restraining order.
• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing Monday that in the deportation case, the administration "acted within the confines of the law ... within the president's constitutional authority, and under the authority granted to him under the Alien Enemies Act [of 1798]." Share this story.