Posted originally on the CTH on February 16, 2025 | Sundance

The Trump administration is experiencing an unprecedented move by federal judges who are overstepping their constitutional limits and ordering Temporary Restraining Orders (TROs) against President Trump.  The judicial activism is in support of ongoing Lawfare operations within the deepest ranks of the administrative state.

Remember, Lawfare in its purest form is not designed to win the final legal battle. Instead, it is a construct to use the law to create obstacles that will eventually fall under higher judicial review; but the larger intent is to impede the presidency, stall the inevitable, and maintain morale for the political activists and their media support systems.  Lawfare is a political construct intended to manipulate public opinion.

In the Dellinger v Bessent case, where President Trump has fired Hampton Dellinger at Treasury, a three-judge District of Columbia, Circuit Court, have intervened and maintained a TRO against President Trump blocking him from removing Dellinger from his position as Special Counsel of the Office of Special Counsel, at the Treasury Dept. [CASE pdf HERE]

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C. issued a temporary restraining order on February 12, restoring Dellinger to his position pending a further, preliminary order.  The District of Columbia U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the administration’s appeal in a 2-1 decision on Saturday, saying it was premature, given that Jackson’s order was only temporary.

Judge Florence Pan and Judge J Michelle Childs, both activist robed women, ruled to maintain the TRO and deny injunctive appellate relief.  Judge Gregory Katsas dissented from the Lawfare decision saying while TRO’s are not usually appealable, in this instance the TRO violates the Article II constitutional power of the President to conduct his official duties.  [Dissent Outlined Below]  Katsas would have granted the government’s stay.

Regardless of the DC Circuit Court decision, Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris has now filed an “APPLICATION TO VACATE THE ORDER ISSUED BY THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND REQUEST FOR AN IMMEDIATE ADMINISTRATIVE STAY” with the Supreme Court. [pdf HERE] The application by Acting SG Harris relies heavily on the dissenting opinion of Judge Katsas.

Before getting to the dissent opinion which frames the application to the Supreme Court, it is worth noting that President Trump’s Solicitor General nominee, Dean Sauer, is still in limbo.  In fact, the Senate Judiciary Committee has taken NO ACTION since receiving the nomination from President Trump on January 20, 2025.  SEE HERE and SEE HERE

Considering that President Trump is under a Lawfare assault that will inevitably lead all the cases to the United States Supreme Court, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has taken no action toward the confirmation of Solicitor General Dean Sauer.

This is not accidental.

The U.S. Solicitor General is the fourth highest ranking member within the Dept of Justice. The task of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is to supervise and conduct government litigation in the United States Supreme Court. All Supreme Court litigation is channeled through the Office of the Solicitor General and is actively conducted by the Office. The United States government is involved in approximately two-thirds of all the cases the U.S. Supreme Court decides each year.

Senator Chuck Grassley well understands the importance of Solicitor General Sauer during this critical time.  However, Senator Grassley is also in direct opposition to President Trump on the issue of tariffs.

Chuck Grassley receives major funding for his personal wealth from Big Ag and multinational lobbyists.  Grassley is intentionally slow walking the OSG nomination in order to impede President Trump and support the Lawfare efforts against him.

Grassley, like most of the republican Senators in the upper chamber, are ideologically and financially opposed to President Trump agenda.  MAGA supporters need to understand exactly what is happening in the background.

♦ Here is the well-framed dissenting opinion by DC Appeals Court Judge Gregory Katsas that outlines the egregious nature of the judicial activism currently underway in federal courts.  This is the dissent [pdf Here] that backstops the appeal to the Supreme Court [pdf Here]

[Source pdf]