Harry Litman - Yes, We Can Bulldoze the Statue of Liberty, and No, You Can't Do Anything About It

A single exchange in last Friday’s DC Circuit argument laid bare the Trump administration’s strategy in a series of recent cases: push through deeply unpopular and frequently illegal measures, disable Congress, and freeze out the public from being able to do anything about it.

The exchange concerned Trump’s most cherished goal of remaking the White House—the people’s house—in his imperial and garish image.

Recall how we got here. Last fall, with no congressional authorization and no completed legal process, the administration simply got up one day and started digging a huge hole where the East Wing had been. By the time the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued in December, the East Wing was gone, and large-scale excavation was well underway.

Judge Richard Leon initially rejected the Trust’s first two injunction requests because they rested on flawed legal theories. Then, in March, he granted a preliminary injunction on the Trust’s amended complaint, halting above-ground construction. The administration took an emergency appeal, and the DC Circuit administratively stayed the injunction the very next day, permitting construction to proceed while the appeal was expedited.

https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/yes-we-can-bulldoze-the-statue-of