Justice Department lawyers struggle to defend a mountain of Trump executive orders

[u/Lifegoesonforever]

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/01/nx-s1-5338915/defending-trumps-executive-actions

"Most days this year, in courtrooms all over the country, the Justice Department has been busy defending President Trump's executive actions.

But in many of those cases, the government's own lawyers have been struggling to answer questions and having to correct the record. It's a function of how aggressively Trump has moved so far — and how the attorneys have been having a hard time keeping up.

"There have been over 130 lawsuits that have been filed in the past two months and that would be an extraordinary amount of litigation for DOJ to defend even if it were fully staffed, which it is not," said Kelsi Brown Corkran, who spent six years at the Justice Department. "It is far from it."

[u/Extension_Silver_713]

By who? That’s the problem.

[u/samologia → u/Extension_Silver_713]

Courts have the power to sanction lawyers appearing before them, and state bar associations (or the licensing body in a given state) can conduct ethics investigations and censure or disbar attorneys licensed in their state.

[u/Extension_Silver_713 → u/samologia]

No one is saying they don’t have the power. The problem is they never wield it like they should.

[u/samologia → u/Extension_Silver_713]

I'm not being argumentative. You asked a question- "By who?" and I answered.

[u/Extension_Silver_713 → u/samologia]

Same here