Despite insisting that the United States is rebounding from calamity under his watch, President Donald Trump is harnessing emergency powers unlike any of his predecessors.
Whether it’s leveling punishing tariffs, deploying troops to the border or sidelining environmental regulations, Trump has relied on rules and laws intended only for use in extraordinary circumstances like war and invasion.
An analysis by The Associated Press shows that 30 of Trump’s 150 executive orders have cited some kind of emergency power or authority, a rate that far outpaces his recent predecessors.
The result is a redefinition of how presidents can wield power. Instead of responding to an unforeseen crisis, Trump is using emergency powers to supplant Congress’ authority and advance his agenda.
“What’s notable about Trump is the enormous scale and extent, which is greater than under any modern president,” said Ilya Somin, who is representing five U.S. businesses who sued the administration, claiming they were harmed by Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Tag Archives: Supreme Court
MiBolsillo Columbia: Tax reform changes regarding Social Security with the Trump bill
The Trump administration’s initial promise to eliminate federal taxes on Social Security benefits has taken a new turn. The House of Representatives has approved a bill that offers a more restricted tax relief for Americans over 65. This proposal, now heading to the Senate, introduces a temporary deduction, marking a significant shift from the original campaign promise. Tom O’Saben, Director of Government Relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals, noted that this is “far from making Social Security tax-free.”
The legislation proposes a $4,000 deduction per qualifying individual, applicable from 2025 to 2028.
A $4K deduction is diddlysquat. Which is not surprising since Trump is a bag of hot air who never delivers anyway. This is par for the course.
The Hill: Why are ICE agents running amok? Because they can.
As the Trump administration pushes for more mass deportations, law enforcement officers from the Department of Homeland Security are suddenly everywhere.
In San Diego, Homeland Security officers conducted a SWAT-style raid on a restaurant, handcuffing 19 employees over an hour and slamming the manager against a wall in the process. Eventually, they arrested four people. The raid was so heavy-handed that the officers had to deploy flashbang grenades to escape from the angry crowd that gathered in response.
Even members of Congress aren’t safe. Last week, Homeland Security officers forced their way into Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D) New York office without a warrant. When one of the staffers protested, she was handcuffed and detained.
The cases you hear about are only the tip of the iceberg. Federal officers are fanning out across the country, conducting raids, traffic stops, even scooping people up at courthouses when they appear for immigration hearings and carting them away in leg irons and shackles — harsh treatment that you seldom see even when felons are arrested.
This heavy-handedness and cruelty isn’t a glitch — it’s intentional, as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, attempt to frighten immigrants into leaving the country. Even legal residents and American citizens are getting caught up in the crackdown.
And the worst part is, while things like barging into a congressman’s office and detaining his staffers aren’t legal, there is nothing anyone can do about it. If Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents force their way into your house without a warrant, slap you around and detain your family at gunpoint while conducting an illegal search, you have no way of getting your constitutional claims into federal court. As a practical matter, these agents are above the law and cannot be held accountable for violating your constitutional rights.
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5335758-homeland-security-raid-immigration
Associated Press: Judge blocks administration from revoking protected status for small subset of Venezuelans
An estimated 5,000 Venezuelans granted temporary protected status can continue to work and live in the U.S. despite a Supreme Court ruling revoking protections while their lawsuit against the Trump administration is pending.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco ruled Friday that Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was extended to October 2026 are not affected by the Supreme Court’s order and are not eligible for deportation.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuelans-tps-federal-judge-be20785b80aa5d2ec27f1100132d5010
Independent: New video shows Judge Hannah Dugan with federal agents in moment that led to her arrest
Attorneys for Wisconsin county judge call the case against her ‘entirely unconstitutional’
Newly obtained surveillance footage from inside a Wisconsin courthouse shows a county judge speaking with federal law enforcement officers before they arrested an undocumented immigrant moments after his hearing in the judge’s courtroom.
A week later, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was placed in handcuffs and accused of obstructing his arrest.
Footage from April 18 provided to The Independent from a public records request shows at least six plain-clothes agents in ball caps and hooded sweatshirts arriving on Dugan’s floor. At one point, one agent sits directly across from Dugan’s courtroom.
Minutes after Dugan’s arrival, agents see Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his attorney entering the courtroom. Flores-Ruiz faces domestic abuse charges stemming from an argument with his roommates, according to a criminal complaint.
Dugan can be seen speaking to a pair of agents sitting on a bench in the courthouse hallway, and then appears to direct them down the hall. According to the criminal complaint, the agents told the judge they had an administrative warrant, which is typically issued by immigration authorities without a judge.
The judge allegedly told the agents to see the chief judge about their plans to make an arrest inside the courthouse. The complaint accuses Dugan of exhibiting “confrontational, angry demeanor” when speaking with federal agents. The surveillance footage does not include any audio.
Dugan is standing still in the video while speaking with two agents, who appear relaxed and slouched on the benches. One agent begins to walk down the hall while Dugan continues speaking with the other agent. Dugan then gestures towards the other end of the hall. She walks the opposite direction when the agents walk away.
None of the videos show the inside of her courtroom. A hearing for Flores-Ruiz lasted only a few minutes. Federal prosecutors allege Dugan directed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out of her courtroom through a non-public door.
But video footage shows the door was just a few feet from the main entrance. Flores-Ruiz and his attorney walk past federal agents as they head towards the elevator. One agent follows them to the elevator. According to a criminal complaint, the agent shared an elevator to the lobby with the both of them.
Looks like ICE’s Gestapo thugs have no evidence worth mentioning.
Techdirt: Trump Administration Tells Supreme Court DOGE Can’t Be FOIAed
The destructive force that is DOGE still somehow manages to exist, despite it not being (depending on which claim is made and when) an official federal agency and/or overseen by anyone specifically identifiable as the head of DOGE.
Until recently, everyone — including Donald Trump — knew (and said as much in public) that DOGE was both a government agency and headed by Elon Musk. When the lawsuits started flying, the backtracking began by the administration, which apparently thought it could cover its tracks by walking backwards in its golf-cleated clown shows.
Trump’s love for DOGE has managed to undercut the protections DOGE hoped it would be able to avail itself of when the FOIA requests began pouring in and the discovery demands started hitting federal dockets.

CNN: Trump returns to Supreme Court with emergency appeal over mass firings
The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court on Monday to ask the justices to reverse a lower court order that has blocked mass firings and major reorganizations at federal agencies, a case that could have enormous implications for the president’s power to reshape the federal government.
The latest emergency appeal involving President Donald Trump’s second term to reach the Supreme Court followed an order last week from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that kept on hold Trump’s plans for the sweeping layoffs – known as reductions in force, or RIFs.
Loser Trump has lost at the first two levels (district court & court of appeals); let’s make it 3 for 3!

Miami Herald: Supreme Court Rejects GOP Appeal on Voting Measure
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied an appeal from Michigan Republican lawmakers seeking to overturn voter-approved voting rights measures. Lawmakers aimed to invalidate amendments regarding same-day voter registration and absentee voting rights …
Apparently none of the judges were impressed with the Republicans’ whine:
The case was dismissed in a lower court for lack of standing and upheld by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, leading to the Supreme Court’s final decision not to hear the appeal.
Reuters: US judge blocks Trump from suspending Biden-era migrant ‘parole’ programs
- Judge orders resumption of Biden-era parole programs
- Ruling affects migrants from Afghanistan, Latin America, and Ukraine
- Trump administration seeks Supreme Court intervention against earlier ruling
A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to resume processing applications from migrants seeking work permits or more lasting immigration status who are living in the country temporarily under “parole” programs.
The ruling by District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston will provide relief to thousands of migrants from Afghanistan, Latin America, and Ukraine who were granted a two-year “parole” to live in the country under programs established by Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration.
The same judge had previously blocked the Trump administration from revoking the parole status of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.

SF Gate: ICE stormed SF court to arrest 4 asylum seekers, denounced as unlawful
Four asylum seekers were detained by federal agents on Tuesday at San Francisco Immigration Court, a move the Department of Homeland Security has portrayed as part of a broader return to “the rule of law” but that immigration attorneys have called unconstitutional and unprecedented in U.S. history.
According to the San Francisco Bar Association, the individuals were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in two separate sweeps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, while attending hearings to claim asylum. All four had pending asylum applications.
“It’s a clear violation of the Constitution and due process rights,” Milli Atkinson, an immigration attorney with the SF Bar Association’s Attorney of the Day program, told SFGATE. Association members were at the courthouse when ICE swept in during the morning and were advocating for one of the detainees.
Atkinson added that ICE had already determined at the time of arrest that each individual should pursue asylum before a judge – a legal process outlined by Congress. She argued that the agency is now attempting to reverse course by claiming a change in circumstances, a justification she described as unfounded.
…
Under federal law, those eligible for asylum are permitted to stay in the U.S. while their applications are reviewed by an immigration judge. Atkinson said Tuesday’s arrests short-circuited that process.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/asylum-seekers-arrested-ice-san-francisco-20349387.php