Undermining the Constitution: The US Administration's Attack on the Rule of Law

Violating the US Constitution, engaging in illegal actions, and abusing power undermine the rule of law. Protecting the rule of law is essential to maintain the foundations of democracy and a free society.

"One should first suspect a democratically elected leader of autocratic legalism when he launches a concerted and sustained attack on institutions whose job it is to check his actions or on rules that hold him to account, even when he does so in the name of his democratic mandate." (Autocratic Legalism by Kim Lane Scheppele)

Likely unconstitutional

• First Amendment Violations: the right to free exercise of religion, speech, the press, and to peaceably protest. The Trump Administration has repeatedly stifled dissent and punished individuals, institutions, and private companies for exercising their constitutional right to free speech. Below are several examples.
  • Signed an executive order that suspends the security clearance of employees of specific law firms and prohibits them from entering government buildings, getting government jobs, or receiving government contracts. These law firms were targeted because of their or their employees' previous work in cases opposed to President Trump or in support of his political rivals. This comes after the president signed an executive order to “end forever the weaponization of government.” The president cannot punish someone for their legal political work. This is a violation of the Constitution’s right to free expression and due process. The law firms targeted include:
    • Other examples include his attacks on Covington and Burling, Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss, Jenner & Block, Wilmer Hale, and Susman Godfrey. In one case, a judge hearing the court challenge described the executive order as “a circumstance [that] threatens the very foundation of our legal system,” while over 500 law firms and 300 former judges filed legal briefs condemning the president’s order.
  • Sent ultimatums to private colleges and universities to make broad changes to their curriculum, staff and student body regulations, and cede control of their departments to the federal government. The Supreme Court has long held that academic freedom is an extension of the First Amendment, and pressuring a school to accept government control for political purposes violates the school’s right to set its own academic standards. Examples include:
    1. Demanded that Columbia University, among other things, oust the head of an academic department and place the department under academic receivership headed by the White House for five years or else lose over $400 million in federal funding.
    2. Sent a list of demands to Harvard University, including allowing a federally-approved audit of student and faculty groups’ “viewpoints,” and reform departments or admit more students until they achieve “viewpoint diversity.” Harvard rejected these demands and, in response, the Trump Administration froze over $2.2 billion in federal funding to the college. President Trump said he will revoke the school’s tax-exempt status and the Department of Education accused Harvard of failing to report donation records, something the college denies.
    Later, the Trump administration informed Harvard that it will be disqualified from any new federal research grants.
    3. Signed an executive order to suspend or terminate college accreditors that do not align with his political ideology. Accreditors are an important aspect of college oversight, impacting curriculum and standards required for a college to accept a student’s federal financial aid.
  • The White House blocked the Associated Press from attending Oval Office and Air Force One press events because the outlet advised its journalists to retain the usage of “The Gulf of Mexico” rather than the president’s preferred “Gulf of America.” The government cannot force an individual or group to use specific words. A federal judge ruled that punishing the AP for their policy represents a violation of free speech, but the White House again blocked the Associated Press from covering its events.
  • A legal permanent resident for 10 years was arrested during his interview to finalize his U.S. citizenship and a month before he was set to graduate college. He was arrested for participating in protests over U.S. policy, a protected freedom under the first amendment. The judge overseeing the case released the man on the grounds that “Even if he were a firebrand, his conduct is protected by the First Amendment.”
  • Suspended federal funding to PBS and NPR for what he claims is “partisan news coverage.” These are government-sponsored, non-partisan public media organizations with coverage that the president does not like. His funding cuts will likely cause local stations across the country to be shut down. This occurred roughly at the same time as the White House launching its own news-style website that publishes exclusively positive coverage of the president.
  • The President signed a memorandum ordering the investigation of a former Department of Homeland Security employee who, during Trump’s first term, wrote an op-ed that was damaging to the president. The statements did not expose international secrets, merely criticized the president, but Trump has described the former employee as “treasonous.” This is a clear attempt to silence dissent by the Trump administration.
  • Employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development have been placed under investigation after speaking to the press about their termination notices. While federal employees are not allowed to speak to the press without permission, these interviews were conducted after they were told that their jobs had been suspended but before that suspension was delayed. Many see it as an intimidation tactic to silence further negative news about the administration.
• Fifth Amendment Violations: the right to due process of the law. The Constitution guarantees that “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law.” This means that anyone in the United States’ jurisdiction shall be entitled to fair judicial proceedings before legal punishment is brought upon them. The Trump Administration has repeatedly deported and detained individuals, including U.S. citizens and legal residents, without providing a court hearing, access to a lawyer, or proper information about their rights. The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump Administration is allowed to carry out its mass deportation goals, but must provide immigrants “notice and opportunity to challenge their removal.” President Trump later said that he hopes to deport more U.S. citizens. Here are several examples of his government violating the right to due process:
  • ICE deported three U.S. citizen children, ages 2, 4, and 7, along with their mothers. The mothers of the children, foreign nationals, were given neither appropriate opportunity to speak with lawyers nor the options available to care for the children. One of the children is suffering from metastatic cancer and, despite knowing of the child’s condition, ICE deported them without medication or the ability to consult with their doctor. The deportation of the 2-year old occured before their hearing scheduled by a federal judge. In response, the judge said that “It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a U.S. citizen.”
  • Two U.S. citizen children were deported to Mexico along with their mother. They were given no due process.
  • ICE deported hundreds of foreign nationals, including at least one legal U.S. resident, without a hearing, lawyer, or due process of any kind. The Supreme Court ruled that migrants must be given notice and the chance to contest their deportation. The Trump Administration again attempted to deport more than 50 migrants without their legal rights, so the Supreme Court blocked any further deportations until further direction from the Court.
  • A Turkish doctoral student legally residing in the U.S. was arrested for writing an op-ed that criticized her university’s response to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Her arresting officers refused to let her speak to her lawyer. They also drove her from where she was arrested in Massachusetts to Vermont where she was flown to a detention facility in Louisiana, presumably to find a more favorable court ruling. This is a violation of free speech and the right to due process. A Vermont judge ordered that she be returned to New England.
  • A U.S. citizen was held for hours while trying to cross from the Canadian border. The officers refused to tell him why they were detaining him and he was not read his legal rights.
  • A legal U.S. resident’s visa was secretly revoked by the Department of Homeland Security. The man was arrested on the grounds that he had overstayed his visa.
  • A 19-year-old U.S. citizen was wrongfully detained by immigration authorities for 10 days. The man said that he had been taken by ambulance to a hospital to treat a seizure and, upon being released from care, did not have his I.D. on him. He asked federal officials for help returning home, but they arrested him and did not take his citizenship claim seriously until his family was allowed to bring his birth certificate to a hearing scheduled over a week later.
• Federal Spending Violations: The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse and the president is required to ensure the laws Congress passes to be “faithfully executed.” The Trump Administration is continuing to terminate and suspend funding to various programs allocated by Congress. There is nothing in the Constitution that gives the Presidency the power to override Congressional spending mandates. Below are several examples of the Trump Administration violating this Constitutional principle.
  • EPA froze and terminated billions of dollars of grants that were allocated by Congress.
  • Suspended the activities of the U.S. Agency for Global Media which oversees Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Asia which were started to counter Communist propaganda. The news group was established by Congress and, in March, a judge ruled that the administration must continue funding the agency. As of early April, the agency had not received its funds. Instead, it has been announced that the outlet will air reports from One America News, a pro-Trump network. This is a violation of the Congressional charter for the agency to provide independent news.
  • Signed an executive order to freeze grants that were promised to farms under the Inflation Reduction Act after the farmers entered into contracts with the expectation that they will receive the funding. These funds were appropriated by Congress, and their suspension is a violation of the separation of powers.
  • Signed an executive order cutting $11.4 billion to state and local health departments and health organizations. Congress appropriated this money during the COVID-19 Pandemic and the president does not have the authority to overturn Congressional spending.
  • Attempted to shut down three Congressionally-created federal agencies: the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. The president cannot unilaterally dismantle agencies created and funded by Congress and a judge has blocked the order.
  • Attempted to cancel over $1.1 billion in Covid-related funding to K-12 schools. This money was appropriated by Congress and the president cannot brazenly rescind federal funding.
  • Terminated over 600 grants at the National Institutes of Health despite a court order blocking these actions.
• Separation of Powers Violations: The Constitution created three co-equal branches of government to maintain a system of checks and balances on the power of each branch. The Trump Administration has regularly threatened this system by ignoring Congressional direction and judicial orders. Here are several examples:
  • Signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, despite this agency being established by Congress. It would take an act of Congress to eliminate the Department.
  • Deported a Rhode Island doctor with a valid visa despite a court order that she not be removed until a hearing be held. The Constitution does not allow the president to defy court orders.
  • The Trump Administration deported a man legally residing in the United States due to, by their own admission, an “administrative error.” The man fled gang violence in El Salvador and was granted protections from being returned to that country by a federal judge in 2019. The government has no evidence of their claim the man is a gang member, other than a photo of the man’s hands digitally altered to show tattoos he does not have. In April, 2025, The Supreme Court ruled that the administration must “facilitate [his] release from custody in El Salvador.” The government has taken no actions to facilitate the man’s release, despite President Trump saying he could bring the man back to the U.S. with one phone call. The Constitution does not allow the president to defy court orders.
  • On March 15, 2025, President Trump ordered the arrest and deportation of hundreds of people residing in the U.S., arguing that they were members of a violent Venezuelan gang. Before the planes carrying these deportees landed, a federal judge ordered that the planes be turned around because the Administration had failed to respect the individuals’ due process and provide a hearing. Government officials ignored these orders and allowed the planes to continue their flight. The Constitution does not allow the president to defy court orders.
  • Ordered the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to update the national voter registration forms to include a proof of citizenship requirement. This is a governing body created by Congress and it is likely illegal for the president to give it orders or for the Commission to make the changes he is suggesting.
• States' Rights Violations: The American government is built upon the principles of federalism, prohibiting the U.S. government from infringing on a host of states rights. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution says that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Below are examples of the Trump Administration violating states’ rights.
  • Signed an executive order that forces states to adopt proof of citizenship requirements to vote, remove people from voter rolls, and share election data with the federal government. Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution states “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations…” State election law can only be changed by an act of Congress.
• Other Constitutional Violation:
  • Signed executive order ending birthright citizenship. The U.S. Constitution explicitly states that all individuals born in the U.S. are U.S. citizens, and decades of legal precedent have affirmed birthright citizenship.
  • Accepted an offer for a $400 million luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the Qatari royal family—the most valuable gift ever offered to a president of the United States—to be used as Air Force One and then transferred to the Trump Presidential Library after leaving office. This is a clear violation of the Constitution’s Emolument Clause which says that “no Person holding any Office [of the United States] shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

Likely illegal

• Signed an executive order ending the collective bargaining agreements of employees of about 20 federal agencies. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 gives the president the authority to halt collective bargaining at agencies related to national security like the CIA and FBI. This order expands to federal employees across the government like at the Departments of Agriculture and Health & Human Services.
• The National Institutes of Health terminated hundreds of grants without following the Administrative Procedures Act which outlines how federal agencies can make such decisions.
• Top White House officials shared detailed war plans on a publicly-available messaging service and accidentally included a journalist in the communications. This likely violates the Espionage Act, which prohibits the intentional or inadvertent sharing of national defence information. The messages were later deleted from the phone of the CIA director after an order from a federal judge to preserve the communications. This is a violation of the Presidential Records Act and Federal Records Act—which outline a procedure for preserving communication related to official government business—as well as disobedience to the Judicial Branch. It was later revealed that the Defense Secretary shared war plans on a second group chat which included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.
• DOGE has gained access to government databases that store a slew of citizens; personal information, including name, social security number, address, medical diagnoses and treatments, notes from therapy sessions, income information, union records, proprietary business secrets, data on ongoing court cases, among others. This is a violation of the American Privacy Act, which governs how the government collects, stores, and shares personal information, including between agencies.
  • DOGE has reportedly been using this information to compile a master database with all government data on individuals, including sensitive biometric data, with the primary purpose of surveilling undocumented immigrants. This has nothing to do with DOGE’s purported mission of eliminating wasteful spending.
• Fired 18 Inspectors General, Congressionally-created positions tasked with monitoring waste, fraud, and abuse, across federal government departments. The president is required by law to inform Congress of the firings and the reasons behind them, but the Trump Administration gave Congress no information on the 18 firings. A federal judge said that this is a likely violation of the law.
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau laid off almost 90% of its employees less than a day after a judicial order requiring a “particularized assessment” of each employee’s role in satisfying the Bureau’s legal duty. It is unlikely the officials were able to conduct an assessment of nearly 1,700 employee’s responsibilities in less than 24 hours. The same judge halted the firings until the CFPB could provide more evidence on how the lay-offs were carried out.
• Dismissed hundreds of researchers preparing the National Climate Assessment, a comprehensive report on how rising temperatures will impact human health and the economy. This report is Congressionally mandated and experts say that this move from the Trump administration will likely prevent its production.

Abuse of power

• President Trump posted on social media “IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT” hours before announcing a 90-day pause on his retaliatory tariffs. In response to the pause, the stock market jumped up. President Trump’s company, Trump Media and Technology Group which uses “DJT” as a stock symbol, saw its stock price rise 22% after the tariff pause. There is no evidence that this meets the legal definition of insider trading or market manipulation, but questions remain about who had knowledge of the tariff pause before it was public and their investment activities.
• President Trump has asserted pressure on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates by threatening to fire him, which is not permitted by law. The Federal Reserve is designed to be shielded from political pressure and has two mandates: keep inflation low and unemployment low.
• Solicited corporate sponsors for his inauguration, garnering $239 million in donations. The previous record was set at $107 million for the first Trump Inauguration. Presidential inaugurations have never cost nearly that much and it is unknown what the remaining funds are being used for. This represents an unprecedented financial relationship between the Executive Branch and large corporations, raising ethical concerns about government corruption. For example, many tech giants that donated to his inauguration will benefit from the tariff exemptions for electronics.
• Solicited corporate sponsors for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. Top sponsors included Silicon Valley tech giants like Meta, YouTube, and Amazon. Executives at these companies likewise donated to President Trump’s inauguration fund and were gifted front-row seats. The increased financial contributions from tech giants is notable given the favorable regulatory environment President Trump has promised.
• The acting U.S. attorney in DC sent a letter to a respected, peer-reviewed medical journal for an investigation on how its editors handle “competing viewpoints” in the scientific community. Members of the medical community viewed this as a legal threat to align the magazine’s content with the political aims of the Trump Administration.
• The president offered to attend an exclusive gala dinner at his golf course for 220 investors of his $TRUMP memecoin, a cryptocurrency that directly benefits Trump’s pocketbook. The top 25 buyers will get a VIP tour of the White House. This move not only abuses his position as president to promote an investment for self-interest, it also signals that financial tributes are a legitimate way to get face-time with the president. It has been estimated that the president’s crypto ventures have increased his wealth by $2.9 billion, or 40 percent of his net worth, in the 6 months surrounding the beginning of his presidency.
• The Department of Labor told its staff that they could face termination or criminal charges for speaking to journalists or former employees about agency business. Criminal prosecution for agency leaks is rare, and the move is seen as an attempt to silence dissent and create an atmosphere of fear for whistleblowers.
• A Milwaulkee judge was arrested for allegedly attempting to aid a man in evading arrest by immigration agents. The judge is still awaiting trial, but the arrest symbolizes an attempt from the Executive Branch to assert its authority over the co-equal judiciary, especially given that a similar case during Trump’s first term allowed a Massachusetts judge to voluntarily appear before the court and was instead subject to an ethics investigation.
• The Trump family business has conducted a range of foreign deals that directly benefit the president’s pocketbook. During his first term, Trump pledged not to make any foreign deals as president, but his second term pledge only mentioned foreign governments. These deals violate both pledges. Examples include:
  • President Trump’s company signed a deal to build a golf course in Qatar with a Saudi Arabian company and one owned by the Qatari government.This deal, in addition to his other global business holdings, raises questions about his ability to separate U.S. foreign policy from his own financial interests.
  • The Trump family’s business announced that a fund backed by the United Arab Emirates would be investing $2 billion in the president’s cryptocurrency. The announcement was made by Zach Witkoff, a founder of the Trump family crypto business and the son of Steve Witkoff, who is the U.S. envoy to the Middle East. This raises a litany of conflicts of interest, including regarding how the president chooses to regulate cryptocurrency and whether these business ventures will impact his approach to foreign policy.
• The president’s budget calls for the largest reduction in NASA’s budget in American history though includes an additional $1 billion for investments in Mars exploration. This funding aligns well with Trump ally Elon Musk’s goals to send an unmanned vehicle to Mars in 2026 through his company SpaceX which often receives grants from NASA.
• The president has not divested from his business dealings nor placed them in a blind trust, as most modern presidents have, leading to wealthy individuals, including foreign billionaires, and companies to make sizable investments in his company Trump Media and Technology Group, despite it reporting a $400 million loss in 2024. Given the poor performance of the company, it is likely that these investments are being used as a way to curry favor with the president.