'Another setback for Trump': Judge reportedly shut down White House with 'civics lesson'
The Trump administration suffered "another setback" in the courts, according to CNN media analyst Brian Stelter.
The reaction comes after a Federal Judge ruled U.S.-funded international broadcasters should receive the money designated to them from Congress. The Trump administration has been trying to stop funding several outlets because they believe "taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda."
Stelter read a quote from Judge Royce Lamberth's ruling, which in part said, "In interviews, podcasts and op-eds, people from both inside and outside government have variously accused the courts, myself included, of fomenting a constitutional crisis.”
Continuing from another part of the ruling, Stelter added, “'Undercutting the popular will or dictating how executive agencies can and should be run. These circulating notions reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the federal judiciary, and indeed of the Constitution itself.’ What Judge Lamberth is saying is that the idea of co-equal branches must be upheld for the country to survive.”
“He is using his ruling in this very narrow case to send a message to everybody about why the Trump administration needs to uphold the law.”
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“It's a strong statement,” Anchor John Berman said, “We'll see how it holds up as this case moves up the court system. You know, Brian, in terms of legal issues surrounding the media, there's any number of things we could talk about. But let me just ask you about the corporation for public broadcasting suing the administration. What's going on here?"
“This case is exactly like the Radio Free Europe case. This case is about an organization created more than 50 years ago to fund PBS and NPR. It's one of those invisible organizations that sends out money around the country that the Trump administration is trying to blow up,” Stelter said strongly.
“On Monday, the Trump administration sent a letter to three of the directors saying you're fired. The only problem with that is that, according to the law back in 1967, the Trump administration cannot fire the board of directors,” Stelter added, “I've read through the entire law. It's very clear it's an independent private entity, not an arm of the federal government. So the corporation for public broadcasting has gone to court asking for a ruling to that effect, and this is going to be another one of those battles between the executive branch and the legislative branch and the judicial branch.”
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