Slate article: What happens if Donald Trump refuses a federal court order

[onetexan]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/01/what_happens_if_donald_trump_refuses_a_federal_court_order.html

"The situation has forced observers to reckon with a question that has little or no precedent in American history: What happens when the federal government or its agents refuse to honor a court order handed down by a federal judge? By definition, it has to be different from what happens when, say, a state lawmaker flouts the word of a federal judge, since in the past, such cases have involved the president himself sending in the U.S. Marshals to enforce the law. But who will be on what side if things escalate, and the executive branch itself explicitly and continuously refuses to follow the rulings of the judiciary? At what point does the conflict turn into a full-blown constitutional crisis?

“If the reports are true, there are a couple paths to escalate,” said University of Chicago Law School professor William Baude. Before it gets to that point, though, attempts will have to be made by the judges in question to clarify what they intended with their orders and how exactly officials might be in violation of them. “Most likely,” Baude said, “there will be several rounds of brinksmanship before this rises to the level of a constitutional crisis.”

According to Doug Laycock, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, the likelihood that we would see fines or jail time even if a contempt order did come down is very slim—in large part because neither the judge, nor the government, has any interest in having the situation devolve to that point. “Judges are much more likely to threaten sanctions than to actually impose them,” Laycock wrote in an email. What typically happens instead—and it’s worth noting that “typically” here refers to much less fraught circumstances than the ones we face today—is that the judge “tries to keep ramping up the pressure, but tries to avoid reaching the point where he has no choice but to send someone to jail.”

What happens if Trump and his people simply decline to back down, even after a judge gives them an opportunity to comply? According to Waldman, that’s when a judge could call the U.S. Marshals in to enforce the order. In the case of Dulles, that could mean pitting U.S. Marshals against armed agents at airports. “This,” Waldman wrote, “is what sets us up for a darker, dangerous turn.”

[vlyons]

1. It's not for no reason that trump keeps his own

private security force around.

[Girard442]

2. We all know what would happen.

Barring law enforcement people actually defying their boss, rule of law in America would be dead.

[CousinIT]

3. Same as every other time hes broken the law

Nothing. Laws don`t apply to dictators.