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\u2018Morning Joe\u2019 host Joe Scarborough accused Vice President J.D. Vance of \u201ctrolling\u201d when he questioned the judicial branch\u2019s authority after a federal judge temporarily prohibited DOGE from accessing government systems.<\/p>\n
A federal judge Saturday temporarily blocked Elon Musk and the government efficiency team he leads from accessing the Treasury\u2019s payment systems after 19 states sued President Donald Trump and the Treasury Department. The tech billionaire raged about the order, calling the judge \u201ccorrupt\u201d and demanding he be \u201cimpeached NOW!\u201d <\/p>\n
The vice president appeared to weigh in on the decision later Sunday, expressing his views on executive power. \u201cIf a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal,\u201d he said. \u201cIf a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Responding to Vance\u2019s remark, Scarborough said: \u201cThe tweet though was circular. It made no sense. And it made no sense because the legitimate powers of the president of the United States is not determined by the president of the United States or the vice president.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joe Scarborough slams Vice President J.D. Vance’s tweet as ‘trolling’ after he suggested judges ‘can’t control the executive’s legitimate power’ (MSNBC)The Supreme Court determines \u201cwhat the legitimate power of the president is, of the vice president is, of what Congress is,\u201d he continued. \u201cThat is the way it has been since John Marshall was the first Supreme Court justice. This is trolling.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Utah Senator Mike Lee offered Vance support, describing his tweet as \u201c100% accurate\u201d and called the judge\u2019s order a judicial \u201ccoup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Vance and Lee graduated from law school, which made their outbursts even more \u201cremarkable,\u201d the \u2018Morning Joe\u2019 host said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is all planned,\u201d Scarborough said. Seemingly referring to Republicans, he continued: \u201cThey decided they were going to do these things that pushed the boundary of the law that went over the line.\u201d <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a long history of judges blocking presidential actions, he argued: \u201cThis is how things are.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vice president argued that judges \u2018aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power\u2019 after a federal judge temporarily blocked DOGE from accessing the Treasury\u2019s payment systems (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)\u201cSo when you say a court cannot stop a president from doing what\u2019s in its legitimate power to do, well, yes, of course that\u2019s true. But it is the court that determines the contours of that power. It\u2019s that simple,\u201d Scarborough said, adding: \u201cRemarkable that these people went to law school.\u201d<\/p>\n
California Senator Adam Schiff similarly responded to Vance\u2019s remark: \u201cJD, we both went to law school. But we don\u2019t have to be lawyers to know that ignoring court decisions we don\u2019t like puts us on a dangerous path to lawlessness.\u201d He wrote on X: \u201cWe just have to swear an oath the constitution. And mean it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, warned that the vice president\u2019s tweet could be suggesting that \u201cthe Trump administration seems to be gearing up to defy a court order.\u201d <\/p>\n
The question of who determines the president\u2019s powers \u201cis 100% settled and has been for 222 years,\u201d Goitein said, referring to the 1803 Marbury v. Madison decision. \u201cThe core feature of the U.S. Constitution is its separation of powers.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cIf the Trump team ignores the courts, any remaining doubt will be gone: they are trying to reverse the revolution that overthrew King George and gave birth to democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington email I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our\u00a0privacy policy \u2018Morning Joe\u2019 host Joe Scarborough accused Vice President J.D. Vance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n