Trump’s lawyers just had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning

Turns out, the rule of law still applies to the president.

Judge Neomi Rao is a cartoonishly right-wing judge. President Donald Trump’s appointee to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit once criticized a French court decision upholding a ban on “dwarf tossing.” She’s argued that much of the executive branch is unconstitutional, in part because members of Congress sometimes write letters to heads of agencies.

And yet, at a hearing Friday morning concerning President Trump’s ability to resist congressional oversight, even Rao appeared skeptical of many of the president’s lawyer’s arguments. Though the bulk of her questions suggested that Rao, a former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas and a former senior Trump White House official, will give her vote to Trump, even she grew impatient with many of Trump’s claims. And there is little risk that she picks up a majority. Continue reading “Trump’s lawyers just had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning”