When a President Defies a Judge’s Order

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Judge James E. Boasberg ruled the Trump administration could not use an obscure wartime law to deport people without a hearing.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times

To the Editor:

I applaud Adam Liptak for his reporting in “Defiance of Judge’s Order Stokes Fears of Constitutional Crisis, or Worse” (news analysis, March 20). He raises an important question: “Must the president obey court orders he contends are wrong, while he appeals them?” I would think so, but President Trump seems to have little respect for judicial procedures and judges.

Mr. Liptak quotes Andrew C. McCarthy in National Review as saying, “It’s all right to complain bitterly about court orders, but they are not to be ignored, much less knowingly flouted.”

In my opinion, the president’s hubris and impulse control problems are getting in the way of his judgment. Hopefully, Supreme Court justices will confront him on this.

Janet C. Lindeman
Bend, Ore.

To the Editor:

In response to President Trump’s call for Judge James E. Boasberg to be impeached, Chief Justice John Roberts said, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”

His statement may be accurate and well intentioned, but it is too late. He and his five conservative colleagues left the barn door open by granting a president immunity in Trump v. United States (2024), a decision written by Chief Justice Roberts. A president now need never be constrained by fear of violating the law. To give presidents immunity is to declare that they are kings.

Have we changed overnight from a democratic republic to a monarchy? How will this president-king be constrained?