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Judges Openly Doubt Government as Justice Dept. Misleads and Dodges Orders
NYT - Gift LinkJustice Department lawyers have long enjoyed a professional benefit when they appear in court. As a general rule, judges tend to take them at their word and assume they are telling the truth.
But in the past several months, as members of President Trump’s Justice Department have repeatedly misled the courts, violated their orders and demonized judges who have ruled against them, some jurists have started to show an angry loss of faith in the people and the institution they once believed in most.
The dissolution of these traditional bonds of trust — known in legal circles as the presumption of regularity — goes well beyond judges’ use of blunt words — “egregious,” “brazen,” “lawless” — to describe the various parts of Mr. Trump’s power-grabbing policy agenda.
Ultimately, legal experts say, the doubts that judges have begun to express about the department and those who represent it could have a more systemic effect and erode the healthy functioning of the courts.
“I think people don’t fully appreciate how much the ability of the legal system to work on a daily basis rests on the government’s credibility,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a Georgetown University law professor. “Without that credibility, it’s going to be harder for the government to do anything in court — even ordinary things. All of a sudden, you’re going to have courts second-guessing things that they wouldn’t have before.”
But in the past several months, as members of President Trump’s Justice Department have repeatedly misled the courts, violated their orders and demonized judges who have ruled against them, some jurists have started to show an angry loss of faith in the people and the institution they once believed in most.
The dissolution of these traditional bonds of trust — known in legal circles as the presumption of regularity — goes well beyond judges’ use of blunt words — “egregious,” “brazen,” “lawless” — to describe the various parts of Mr. Trump’s power-grabbing policy agenda.
Ultimately, legal experts say, the doubts that judges have begun to express about the department and those who represent it could have a more systemic effect and erode the healthy functioning of the courts.
“I think people don’t fully appreciate how much the ability of the legal system to work on a daily basis rests on the government’s credibility,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a Georgetown University law professor. “Without that credibility, it’s going to be harder for the government to do anything in court — even ordinary things. All of a sudden, you’re going to have courts second-guessing things that they wouldn’t have before.”