# Could Congress Kill The Judiciary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 15, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-congress-kill-the-judiciary/1017074 "2025-04-15T16:09:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-congress-kill-the-judiciary/1017074/61 "2025-04-26T16:30:06Z")
I think the issue the commentator was talking about was something like this (PDF) which doesn’t really affect the judge’s culpability. There are other states and cities that have similar laws- but if they have such a law in Wisconsin , ICE wouldn’t have been allowed in the courthouse without a judicial warrant. ( They _can_ get warrants issued by a judge but usually don’t) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-congress-kill-the-judiciary/1017074/62 "2025-04-27T20:56:10Z")
I’m really wondering why we’re having this hyper-legalistic discussion about what the words on various papers say when clearly the country is rapidly becoming a post-law state. Treating the constitution and existing legislation as some sort of rigid well-understood computer program where you can try to imagine running it on novel inputs like “congress chooses to defund the judiciary” and then logic your way to a single certain outcome sounds interesting at first glance. But the existing constitution and written law is not an unambiguous computer program. What it will do on novel inputs very quickly simply turns into “It depends on what various people decide, and damned near anything could happen” And that’s before we enter the current real world where the answer to _every_ constituitonal or legal question is “Words on paper don’t matter to trump and nobody is lifting a finger to redirect or slow him down, much less stop him from doing whatever in hell he pleases.” We may as well be arguing how the Mexican or Slobovian or United Federation of Planets constitution applies for all the relevance it has. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-congress-kill-the-judiciary/1017074/63 "2025-04-27T22:01:23Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > And that’s before we enter the current real world where the answer to _every_ constituitonal or legal question is “Words on paper don’t matter to trump and nobody is lifting a finger to redirect or slow him down, much less stop him from doing whatever in hell he pleases Don’t Quote Laws to Men With Swords > **[Don't Quote Laws to Men With Swords](https://patrickwyman.substack.com/p/dont-quote-laws-to-men-with-swords)** > > Our Legitimacy Crisis I’ve mentioned this many times over the last several years, but lots of people keep ignoring it. This is the attitude of far too many on the right now. They have the physical power to do this stuff, and no namby-pamby lawyer types are going to stop them. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2025, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-congress-kill-the-judiciary/1017074/64 "2025-04-27T22:34:11Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > And that’s before we enter the current real world where the answer to _every_ constituitonal or legal question is “Words on paper don’t matter to trump and nobody is lifting a finger to redirect or slow him down, much less stop him from doing whatever in hell he pleases.” This discussion is long (nearly and hour) but well worth the time for anyone interested in how and why the Trump regime is challenging the judiciary: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yiBggW15jLk/maxresdefault.jpg "The Emergency is Here (Part 2) | The Ezra Klein Show") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiBggW15jLk) [TL;DR is that in essence unlike previous efforts to push against the legal interpretations, this regime is just ignoring law and judicial direction to see what they can get away with, and that absent of any checks within the executive itself the only remedy is in the legislature, i.e. legislative overhaul, the ‘power of the purse’, and ultimately impeachment…none of which seem to be in the offing even if Democrats can regain control of both houses of Congress.] Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-congress-kill-the-judiciary/1017074.md?page=3)