CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Monday President Donald Trump’s efforts to address wasteful government spending and illegal immigration were “not unconstitutional.”
The Trump administration is appealing injunctions imposed by federal judges that targeted the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order ending birthright citizenship. Honig said Trump’s plan was to “make plaintiffs” and force them to “sue” to stop his efforts.
“Look, the strategy that Donald Trump has used here so far is he’s going to do what he wants first, and then he’s going to make plaintiffs,” Honig told “CNN News Central” co-host John Berman. “He’s going to make state attorneys general. He’s going to make private citizens go sue him in court if they want to stop him from doing what he wants, they have to make him. So that’s definitely been a strategy by the president. But that’s not unconstitutional.”
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“Where it crosses a line is if that happens, he goes into court and a court says, you’re not allowed to do this executive branch or I’m putting it on hold, I’m putting an injunction and then if the president or the executive Branch defies that, that’s where we get into real trouble here,” Honig continued. “So for sure, Donald Trump has taken a conscious legal strategy of, I’m going to do what I want, maybe I’ll lose in the courts. That’s fine. I mean, I think there’s problems in that, but that’s not unconstitutional.”
Honig additionally poured cold water on fears the Supreme Court would be a rubber stamp for Trump, even with six conservatives on the court.
“This Supreme Court has generally been taking a broad view of executive power. But I also think it’s a mistake to say, oh, there are six, three Supreme Court, they ruled in favor of Trump on immunity, they’re going to do whatever he said,” Honig said. “They have rejected Donald Trump at many key junctures. They rejected his election fraud claims. They rejected some of his efforts to stop prosecutors from taking steps against him. They rejected his efforts to resist a subpoena. So, I think this Supreme Court will not tolerate if the executive branch crosses that line of defying the courts.”
The Supreme Court struck down several executive actions taken by former President Joe Biden’s, most notably rejecting his effort to forgive student loans in a 6-3 ruling in June 2023. Despite the court’s ruling, Biden forgave student loan debt through his Department of Education on numerous occasions.
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