Comment by lmm
1 year ago
> Yes, this is a problem, because it would mean that if the President (for simplicity, the order also specified the AG, but it doesn't really change the issue) had an opinion on the law, and the courts issued an order to an executive officer such as a department head in a lawsuit contrary to that interpretation, the department head would remain bound by the Presidential interpretation until the President relented, since the meaning and effect of a court order is no less a matter of interpreting the law than the meaning and effect of a regulation, statute, or Constitutional provision.
I don't think that's true? Court orders are orders, not laws, and the two are very different.
But who will enforce a court order if the executive branch decided to ignore it?
This executive order doesn't change anything about that as far as I can see. If the president says the law means one thing, other executive agencies have to follow that interpretation - but the courts will still do their own thing, and a court order is just as binding whether you agree with it or not (and indeed whether it's legally correct or not).
> and a court order is just as binding whether you agree with it or not (and indeed whether it's legally correct or not).
But the same question remains. Who’s going to enforce it?
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