The Senate parliamentarian has ruled against a controversial provision in the Senate Republicans\u2019 megabill that would have made it significantly more difficult for courts to enforce contempt findings against the Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough,<\/u><\/a> ruled that limiting courts\u2019 ability to hold Trump officials in contempt violated the Senate\u2019s rules governing what can be passed with a simple-majority vote on the budget reconciliation fast track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer\u2002<\/u><\/a>(N.Y.) hailed the parliamentarian\u2019s decision as a major victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSenate Republicans tried to write Donald Trump\u2019s contempt for the courts into law \u2014 gutting judicial enforcement, defying the Constitution and bulldozing the very rule of law that forms our democracy,\u201d Schumer said in a statement responding to the development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut Senate Democrats stopped them cold. We successfully fought for rule of law and struck out this reckless and downright un-American provision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The provision, tucked into the thousand-page bill House Republicans passed in May, would have required anyone suing the federal government to pay a bond before a court would be allowed to use its contempt power to enforce injunctions and other rulings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Courts have already ruled more than 190 times against the Trump administration<\/u><\/a> since January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The controversial language received little notice when it came to the floor, and Rep. Mike Flood\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Neb.) later caused an uproar<\/u><\/a> at a town hall meeting when he admitted he didn\u2019t know the provision was in the legislation when he voted for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf enacted, this would have been one of the most brazen power grabs we\u2019ve seen in American history \u2014 an attempt to let a future President Trump ignore court orders with impunity, putting him above the law,\u201d Schumer said Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDonald Trump\u2002<\/u><\/a>is not above the law. And thanks to Senate Democrats \u2014 including the tireless work of Senator Durbin and the Judiciary Democrats \u2014 the courts can still hold him and any president accountable,\u201d Schumer said, referring to Sen. Dick Durbin\u2002<\/u><\/a>(D-Ill.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n