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

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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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