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10 ¦ DECEMBER 7, 2020 NEWS

¦ From JUDGES on PAGE 9 But the noncompliance seems to be more frequent
Similarly in the postal service litigation, Sullivan in recent months. In September, U.S. District Judge
made clear his displeasure with Trump officials. “I’m Amit Mehta of the District of Columbia modified
not pleased about this 11th-hour development,” he an injunction he issued over the Trump administra-
said of a filing that said USPS wouldn’t be able to tion’s handling of diversity visa applications, finding
comply with the judge’s ruling, after the court-im- that a “quarantine requirement” for residents of cer-
posed deadline already passed. “You can tell your tain countries violated his order.
clients that, and someone may have a price to pay “Defendants assert that the quarantine require-
for that.” ment ‘is in full compliance with the PI Order,’”
Sullivan has not yet taken further action against Mehta wrote. “No, it is not. The quarantine require-
the administration, instead directing his attention ment is premised on a faulty legal position, and it is
toward ensuring mail-in ballots were delivered on irrational, too.”
time to be counted in this year’s election. At the same time, DOJ attorneys in New York were
Manning said that, despite judges’ words in court, dealing with the fallout from making false state-
they haven’t gone far enough in preventing defiance ments in court over a DHS policy that blocked New
of their rulings—partly because they haven’t had to York state residents from programs meant to make it
in the past. He couldn’t recall similar instances of easier to travel through international borders. While
noncompliance taking place during the Obama ad- not an issue of complying with court rulings, judges
ministration. involved in the case raised concerns about the ability
But this administration, he said, has shown it can of officials to lie in federal court.
ignore federal courts at times and get away with U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern
it—setting a path for future officials to do the same, District of New York demanded attorneys with the
barring a more forceful reaction from the judiciary. district undertake an exhaustive review on how the
“It sets a bad precedent, and future administra- lies ended up in his court. He ruled last month that
tions will look and say, ‘well look how the Trump “the administration undermined the ‘core constitu-
administration played the courts. They defied court tional and democratic values’ underlying the APA,”
orders and that brought them an extra 60 or 90 days and said the instance “is a vivid reminder of the
and yes they got admonished, but does that really ‘important’ role that courts play ‘in ensuring that
matter?’” Manning said. “So maybe it provides a agencies have engaged in reasoned decision mak-
kind of a game plan for future administrations in ing.’” Furman said he was also weighing whether to
terms of how they react to the courts. To me, that’s issue additional penalties over the false statements.
the bigger threat.” Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of the Dis-
trict of Columbia urged the parties in a similar case
to settle. But he raised concerns after DOJ agreed to
A pattern of noncompliance
The Trump administration’s failure to comply a six-figure settlement with the Big Law firm Arnold
with federal court orders is not a new phenomenon: & Porter Kaye Scholer. The judge earlier this month
Sullivan previously threatened to hold then-Attor- rejected the agreement, and chided the administra-
ney General Jeff Sessions in contempt after officials tion for not doing its due diligence in negotiating
began removing a mother and her child from the the deal, suggesting they wanted “to dispose of the
U.S. while the court hearing over the challenged de- case as quickly as possible.”
portation was ongoing. “I certainly hope, and expect, that the department’s
And last year, Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim held leadership will take the necessary steps in the future,
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt for especially in cases that involve embarrassing conduct
collecting loans from thousands of former students, of the type here, to ensure that the fees agreed to by
after the judge previously blocked the Education the department, and ultimately paid by the taxpayer,
Department from doing so. are indeed fair and reasonable,” Leon wrote.

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