Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) said on Sunday that Donald Trump’s clash with judges who issue rulings he does not like is exactly what the founders intended to happen.
In an interview on NBC’s ‘Meet The Press’ Curtis told host Kristen Welker that Trump’s presidency is a lesson in civics and dismissed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) assertion that Trump’s clash with the courts is a “constitutional crisis.”
“When everything is a crisis, nothing is a crisis. President Trump has been very clear multiple times he will obey court orders,” Curtis said. “So I don’t see the crisis. And like I said, I see the civics lesson.”
“People need to be watching this and say, this is actually what our founders intends,” he continued. “This tension between the three different branches. And Congress has our role in this, and you could fairly say we need to do more, and I’m with you.”
The founders intended the judiciary to act as a check on the executive branch, thus ensuring that no single branch gains excessive power.
However, Trump administration officials and their Republican allies in Congress have attacked several federal judges who have issued rulings blocking Elon Musk’s DOGE actions and Trump’s executive orders seeking to expand the power of the presidency and reshape the U.S. government.
Republican House members have introduced articles of impeachment against judges who ruled against the Trump administration.
Just last week, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) introduced impeachment articles against U.S. District Judge James Boasberg who ordered a halt to the effort to deport hundreds of immigrants allegedly affiliated with Venezuelan gangs after Trump invoked a controversial 18th century wartime law.
The Trump administration is currently locked in a court battle with Boasberg over whether they defied his order to turn the planes around. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Boasberg has “no right” to be asking questions about the specifics. Trump, meanwhile, has called for Boasberg to be impeached.
The tension between the Trump administration and the courts has led Chief Justice John Roberts to issue a rare statement rebuking calls to impeach judges over rulings a party in the case does not agree.
Roberts noted that there are other options available like appealing the rulings.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts wrote. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
