well it's the annual President Day holiday in the US and people across the country are using it to Rally against the president currently occupying the White House Donald Trump thousands have turned out in Washington DC against what they see as a president's moves to gut government agencies and make them more compliant Mr Trump has said his orders are not breaking laws since he is saving his country the point of view that has many worried that the US is heading for a constitutional crisis or it already one on the campaign Trail and in court appearances Donald
Trump was the victim and they've weaponize your government they're a disgrace to our country and I just like to exclaim that I was treated very very unfairly I did nothing wrong it's a witchart it's a an attack by my political opponents now in office he's turned the tables using the justice system part of the executive branch of government he heads to reward suppor and punish enemies one of his first acts in his new term was to pardon the riers who stormed the capital building four years ago including those who had assaulted police officers his justice
department dropped charges against New York city mayor Eric Adams the federal prosecutor in that case resigned saying the move was an apparent quid proquo for Adams cooperation on Trump Administration priorities and the justice department has asked for list of FBI employees who investigated Trump and fired prosecutors who took part in those investigations meanwhile the court system a separate branch of government has emerged as his greatest obstacle Trump's executive orders on freezing federal spending covering a range of programs including food assistance for the elderly have been blocked by courts the Trump Administration has lashed out in
response vice president JD Vance wrote on x judges aren't allowed to control the executives legitimate power term and the White House Press Secretary said judges were abusing their Authority quick news flash to these liberal judges who are supporting their obstructionist efforts 77 million Americans voted to elect this President and each injunction is an abuse of the rule of law and an attempt to thwart the will of the people one of the cases about Trump's power to fire officials has already reached the Supreme Court which has a conservative super majority including three justices Trump nominated but
they still might rule against him if they do the court has no police force or Army to enforce its judgment leaving many in the US wondering if Trump loses in court on a major issue will he do what the court says Nancy Erica Smith is an employment and civil rights lawyer she joins us from the town of Monclair in the US state of New Jersey welcome to DW so we have have this storm of executive orders from the White House some of which are struck down by the courts leading the White House to protest loudly
and angrily is this really a constitutional crisis because the the checks and balances seem to be working at the moment oh it's definitely a constitutional crisis anytime you have one arm of the government the executive branch and president completely ignoring the Constitution um it's pretty scary um when the Constitution for instance says that all persons born in the United States are citizens and executive order from the president of the United States saying that's not so is very scary and a lot of the action the president the forgive me but the Constitution says one thing the
President says no it doesn't the courts say yes it does that's isn't that the way the system works hopefully so far unfortunately we have a Supreme Court that a lot of lawyers like me have very little confidence in they're the ones who made up the idea that Trump has a immunity from violating the law which is why we had a revolution in our country we don't have kings in the United States so there's very little confidence among lawyers in this supreme court this Supreme Court is the most partisan we probably ever had in history uh
the Republicans stopped Obama although he had had a constitutional right to add a Justice to the court during his last entire year of presidency they stopped him and meanwhile during the Trump Administration they put a Supreme Court Justice on the court while there was an election going on early voting had already started and Trump lost and those justices testified under oath that they would not overturn roie Wade and then they did and Thomas More than any other justice has taken a lot of favors from very connected right-wing billionaires his wife has actively Works in favor
of trump we get the point you you believe that the system uh is stacked against you so the United States you believe to be in a constitutional uh uh crisis so what does happen if even the the Supreme Court says no but the President says I'm going to do it anyway what happens there what happens then is is pretty scary because Trump has also violated many other laws and protections like the Department of Justice is being decimated so the people who would keep going into lower courts to protect us they're being fired or they're resigning
because they won't violate the law so when you fire all the inspector generals which who are created by Congress the the EEOC is an agency created by Congress to stop discrimination in the United States the nlrb is an agency created by Congress to protect workers rights inspector generals are created by Congress to protect us from fraud and Corruption and the people appointed to those are they're confirmed by the Senate so the separation of powers in the United States Constitution is really important to be honored and it's not being honored and if the Supreme Court doesn't
stop that I don't know what happens in the United States I I I I don't see a great deal of leadership right now there's no process because I was led to believe that that that you you go to the the the Supreme Court the Supreme Court says one thing the President says another The Next Step I understood was an attempt at impeachment yeah and the Republican party is in total they're completely cowed by Trump the Republican party has violated what they own what they said they would do in terms of the incredible appointments to the
cabinet the uh alcoholics rapists antivaxers are in the cabinet now um so the Republicans cannot be relied on we would have to wait two years and have an overwhelming uh election of demr clear there are convicted rapists in the cabinet you you're saying well well Trump is a convicted rapist um rap yes he was the judge ruled that what there's a judge ruling that what Donald Trump did to egene Carol is constitutes rape there's a judge ruling that okay so gaze into your crystal ball for us please and speculate about the changes likely to have
been forced upon the US justice system as a result of four years of a president emboldened by the people and by the Supreme Court who has politicized the administration of the justice department what do you see left in four years I I I see hungry I see he loves Orban Trump and his acolytes love Victor orbon and they're really they're really paring what he did to Hungary you attack voting rights you fire civil servants who implement the laws and serve the people not a person you intimidate the Press uh musk said 60 Minutes Executives producers
and journalists should be in prison yesterday because he didn't like what 60 Minutes said Vance said the president doesn't have to follow court orders so I see you create division orbon attacked migrants which we see happening in this country you use tons of misinformation and between uh Twitter now musks X and Fox News and and Newsmax there's so much information being pumped into Americans that that's what Orban did and and and and you lie constantly so that nobody can believe anything anymore you don't have you don't trust anybody it's not just that they want us
to believe the lies it's that they don't want us to trust anything saying that migrants are are taking benefits immigrants don't take benefits they're not they don't get benefits saying that migrants are creating are committing so many crimes migrants commit far fewer crimes that's quite a a dystopian View of the Future Let's cross our fingers and hope that you're wrong good talking to you thank you so much for joining us I hope so employment and civil rights lawyer Nancy Erica Smith thank you
