Trump legal battles on high court collision course

Trump legal battles on SCOTUS collision course

TWO OF PRESIDENT TRUMP's highest-profile legal battles appear to be headed to the Supreme Court.

The Trump administration on Monday asked the high court to intervene after a federal judge ordered the federal government to rehire about 16,000 probationary workers across several agencies and departments.

The firings were deemed illegal, forcing the administration to bring the workers back.

That ruling was a major blow to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which suffered another legal setback Monday when a federal judge blocked DOGE access to troves of sensitive personal data from three federal agencies.

LEGAL FIGHT OVER DEPORTATIONS ESCALATES

Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi expects the Supreme Court “will get involved” in the battle over whether Trump has the power to swiftly deport illegal immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg on Monday refused to lift his block on the Trump administration’s attempted use of the war powers act to deport Venezuelans, saying the alleged Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members deserve hearings before they’re deported.

“Because the named Plaintiffs dispute that they are members of Tren de Aragua, they may not be deported until a court has been able to decide the merits of their challenge," Boasberg said.

Trump lashed out at Boasberg once again Monday, comparing him to the New York judge who handled his hush money case.

Chief Justice John Roberts released a rare statement last week rebuking Trump and some Republicans who called for Boasberg to be impeached and removed.

A three-judge federal appeals panel will hold a hearing on the matter Monday afternoon, as the Trump administration seeks to overturn Boasberg’s temporary restraining order and have him removed from the case.

The Trump administration is continuing with deportations that fall outside of the Alien Enemies Act.

A plane with nearly 200 immigrants was sent to Venezuela over the weekend after the U.S. reached an agreement with President Nicolás Maduro to resume repatriation flights, while three alleged TdA members will be extradited to Chile.

Despite Madura’s move, Trump said Monday he’ll slap a “secondary tariff” on Venezuela, accusing the country of sending criminal gang members to the U.S.

The U.S. will impose a 25 percent tariff on countries that purchase oil and gas from Venezuela, Trump said on Truth Social.

NATSEC FALLOUT OVER TRUMP TEAM'S GROUP CHAT

The Trump administration’s national security team is dealing with the embarrassing fallout after it apparently included a journalist in a chat group in which top administration officials discussed imminent attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, claimed he connected with Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz on Signal, the encrypted messaging app.

Two days later, Goldberg said he was invited into a private chat including Waltz, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe — with officials primarily identified by their initials.

The officials discussed their planned strikes on the Houthi militants, apparently unaware that a journalist was on the text chain.

Goldberg said at first he “could not believe that the national security adviser to the president would be so reckless as to include” him, but that he realized the texts were real when the strikes took place as laid out on the chain.

Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the National Security Council, confirmed the message chain was authentic.

“This appears to be an authentic message chain, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” Hughes said. “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to troops or national security.”

Read the full Atlantic story HERE.

Trump said Monday he hadn't heard about any of this when confronted by reporters at the White House. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said "the administration is addressing what happened" but that he doesn't believe Waltz or Hegseth should be disciplined.

Trump has a history with Goldberg, attacking the journalist and disputing his 2020 story citing anonymous sources who claimed the president called fallen soldiers "suckers" and "losers."

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the group chat incident “a huge screw up” in remarks to Politico.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) posted on X: “Classified information should not be transmitted on unsecured channels — and certainly not to those without security clearances, including reporters. Period. Safeguards must be put in place to ensure this never happens again.”

Democrats are outraged and demanding hearings and investigations.

“This is blatantly illegal and dangerous beyond belief,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) posted on X. “Our national security is in the hands of complete amateurs. What other highly sensitive national security conversations are happening over group chat? Any other random people accidentally added to those, too?”

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: Why are the media hiding the ball on deportations?

• The Hill: The unspoken cost of Trump’s chaos tariffs

• The Hill: Trump’s deportations are saving both money and lives.

• CNN: Trump’s assault on elites encompasses everything.

• The Wall Street Journal: Columbia learns a hard lesson.

Read more:

• Federal court blocks Trump admin. from separating 2 transgender airmen.

• Trump names Alina Habba interim top federal prosecutor for New Jersey.

• Trump administration to end legal status of 500,000 migrants.

• Trump axes security clearances for political foes, including Hillary Clinton, Harris, Cheney.

CATCH UP QUICK

The U.S. government is accusing former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil of covering up his past work for multiple organizations when he applied to become a permanent resident.
A jury in Georgia ordered Monsanto’s parent Bayer to pay more than $2 billion in damages to a man who says the company’s Roundup weed killer caused his cancer.
Inside the White House’s social media strategy: A White House official tells The Hill's Elizabeth Crisp that the Trump administration's sometimes "irreverent" tone is connecting with younger online users.

NEWS THIS AFTERNOON

Lawmakers return to Capitol after facing constituent anger

They're back.

After facing angry constituents at town hall events in their home districts over the brief recess, lawmakers have returned to Washington.

Members in both parties faced the wrath of an anxious electorate, with Republicans scrambling to explain their sweeping government cuts and Democrats squaring off with voters who are fed up with what they view as a rudderless party.

Meanwhile, two members are returning to Washington riding high: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

The pair's “anti-oligarchy” rallies attracted tens of thousands of people in recent days.

Sanders’s team said 34,000 showed up for their weekend rally in Denver, with the 83-year-old once again hitting on a message that resonates with grassroots liberals.

UP NEXT:

The focus turns to the Senate, with Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) each facing unique political challenges.

House Republican leaders on Monday called on the Senate to take up the House-passed budget resolution for President Trump’s legislative agenda, releasing a joint statement pressuring the upper chamber to pass a bill as “quickly as possible.”

“The American people gave us a mandate and we must act on it,” the lawmakers, including chairs of key committees, wrote. “We encourage our Senate colleagues to take up the House budget resolution when they return to Washington.”

The House budget resolution wraps Trump’s tax cuts, spending cuts, border security and defense funds, and an increase in the debt ceiling, into “one big, beautiful bill” that’s been endorsed by Trump.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wants it passed by the end of May.

The Senate has passed a two-bill budget framework, so Republicans in both chambers must find common ground to get something to Trump’s desk.

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that Thune has warned GOP lawmakers that “the finished product” is still months away.

“Republican senators are warning that getting a major package through the Senate will take months longer than has been publicly discussed, due to the sheer size of Trump’s ambitious agenda and internal Republican divisions over an array of policy questions.”

MEANWHILE...

Schumer is still facing questions about his leadership 10 days after his vote to advance the GOP’s spending bill to avert a government shutdown.

Schumer’s leadership post isn’t in danger yet, but the grassroots rage engulfing him has been likened to the GOP’s “Tea Party” movement of the late 2000s, which provoked a Republican civil war, led to shocking primary upsets, and generally paved the way for a new party to form under Trump.

“The American people are fed up with the old guard, there needs to be a renewal,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told CNN’s Dana Bash.

The liberal group MoveOn wrote a letter to Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) over the weekend warning that “our members’ frustrations are at a boiling point.”

Read more:

• GOP heads into key stretch for ambitious Trump tax cut plan.

• Allure of higher office could hinder House Democrats’ midterm hopes.

• Harris widely favored to lead Dems in 2028, poll shows.

• Mia Love, first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, dies at 49.

💡Perspectives:

• Working Life: The Schumer Scalp: A waste of time, money and focus.

• The Hill: Has Trump caused the Democratic Party to implode?

• The Free Press: Can Dems embrace the 'Abundance' message?

• Los Angeles Times: Americans aren't waiting for Dems to take on Trump.

• The American Prospect: It’s time for the left to reclaim nationalism.

IN OTHER NEWS

U.S. talks underway with Russia, Ukraine

President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is meeting with his Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia on Monday as the U.S. pushes for a peace deal with Ukraine.

Witkoff and his team held meetings with Ukrainian officials a day earlier, which Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky described as “constructive” and “quite useful.”

European nations are watching closely, with Trump pressuring U.S. allies to take on a greater role in their own defense against Russia.

“I do think that President Trump has a point when he says there needs to be a greater burden borne by European countries for the collective self-defense of Europe,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told The New York Times.

However, Starmer expressed wariness of any deal the U.S. might strike with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I don’t trust Putin,” Starmer said. “I’m sure Putin would try to insist that Ukraine should be defenseless after a deal because that gives him what he wants, which is the opportunity to go in again.”

• Second lady Usha Vance and national security adviser Mike Waltz will travel to Greenland this week to “learn about Greenlandic heritage” and “visit historic sites,” as Trump talks about annexing the territory that is governed by Denmark.

Vice President Vance said on Fox News over the weekend that Denmark is mismanaging Greenland and “not being a good ally.”

“If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland that is what President Trump is going to do,” Vance said.

Greenland Prime Minister Mute B. Egede called the visit by Waltz and Usha Vance “highly aggressive.”

“The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us,” he said.

Trump responded: “This is friendliness, not provocation.”

💡Perspectives:

• Time: Zelensky discusses Trump, Putin, and the endgame in Ukraine.

• The Financial Times: Trump’s policies shatter ‘US exceptionalism.'

• The Liberal Patriot: Germany and the future of national populism.

• After Babel: The damage wrought by ed-tech during COVID.

Read more:

• 5 things to know ahead of Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks.

• Columbia agrees to Trump administration’s demands after funding cut.

• Israeli strike kills top Hamas official.

• White House narrows April 2 tariffs.

Stay Engaged

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