The Trump administration has ignored numerous federal court orders since President Donald Trump returned to office, according to a review by The Associated Press.
The AP reviewed scores of legal cases from Trump's second term and found federal judges determined the White House ignored court orders in at least 31 instances. Judges have criticized the administration for not following orders in cases involving government funding, mass layoffs and deportations.
One example involves deportation flights that took off from the U.S. to El Salvador with immigrants on board. A judge had ordered the Trump administration to turn the planes around and keep others grounded, but the deportations still happened.
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Lee Gelernt, who represents some of the immigrants who were deported, said the situation left his clients confused and without recourse.
"How could the government have done this even though a judge said not to do it?" Gelernt said. "And so that's understandable that they would be baffled by what's happened to them — just thrown on a plane in the middle of the night and sent to what's essentially a gulag in El Salvador without any due process."
Former federal judge Nancy Gertner, who is now a Harvard Law School lecturer, said the pattern is unusual and carries broader consequences.
"We're in really dangerous territory here," Gertner said. "We're in dangerous territory because the Trump administration that disobeys the order on Monday, on Tuesday it will be your neighbor who wants to enforce a contract and the other side will say 'well, Trump doesn't have to pay attention to the courts. I won't either.'"
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President Trump has criticized judges who have ruled against him. In response to the AP's reporting, a White House spokesperson said "The fake news media conveniently ignores that many of these listed unlawful district court rulings were later overturned on appeal. But regardless, the Administration will continue to comply with lawful court rulings."
Some of the cases the White House has referenced are still working through the federal appeals process.
