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Other presidents have occasionally claimed a constitutional right to bypass particular laws. But in the opening weeks of his second term, President Trump and his administration have opened the throttle on blowing through apparent legal limits, often with no clear public explanation for how their actions could be consistent with the rule of law.
Already some of Mr. Trump's moves have prompted legal challenges, though the administration may be betting on rulings in its favor with a Republican-appointed Supreme Court supermajority.
Here are some examples of the administration’s defiance of statutes.
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- What the administration did
Ordered the Justice Department not to enforce a ban on TikTok for 75 days and to notify the app and its business partners that defying the law is no criminal offense.
- What it could be violating
Law barring TikTok from operating in the United States unless and until its Chinese owner sells it.
- What the administration did
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- What the administration did
Required blanket temporary freeze on most foreign aid.
- What it could be violating
The longer it lasts, blocking congressionally approved spending comes into greater tension with Impoundment Control Act.
- What the administration did
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- What the administration did
The Office of Management and Budget ordered agencies to carry out a blanket temporary freeze up to $3 trillion in domestic grants and other government spending.
- What it could be violating
The freeze has been temporarily blocked by two courts after plaintiffs raised challenges, including provisions in the Administrative Procedure Act and First Amendment rights.
- What the administration did
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- What the administration did
Moved to apparently dismantle the agency and fold its functions into the State Department, including by making Secretary of State Marco Rubio its acting director.
- What it could be violating
A law in which Congress created U.S.A.I.D. and structured it as a stand-alone entity.
- What the administration did
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- What the administration did
Summarily fired 17 inspectors general, the watchdog officials who hunt for waste, fraud, abuse and illegality in government agencies.
- What it could be violating
A law that says presidents have to give Congress 30 days’ notice and a written “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” before any such removal.
- What the administration did
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- What the administration did
Summarily fired a Democratic member of the independent agency before her term was up, paralyzing the board by leaving it without a quorum.
- What it could be violating
A law that says presidents may only remove board members “upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause.”
- What the administration did
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- What the administration did
Summarily fired prosecutors involved in the cases against President Trump or the Jan. 6 rioters.
- What it could be violating
Civil service job protections against arbitrarily firing federal workers without a good cause and without hearings before the Merit System Protection Board.
- What the administration did
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- What the administration did
Declared that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment will no longer be interpreted as granting citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil to undocumented parents or other visitors and instructed agencies not to issue citizenship-affirming documents, like Social Security cards, to such infants.
- What it could be violating
The longstanding understanding that the 14th Amendment does grant citizenship to such infants; a federal judge has barred agencies from obeying this order for now.
- What the administration did