The Mask Slips

If when arguing about a President's ability to create or change public monuments and government buildings your lawyers have to argue that Donald Trump has the unrestricted power to tear down the Statue of Liberty, you have already lost. > A federal appeals court panel expressed skepticism Friday about the Trump administration’s view that courts are powerless to stop the construction of the White House ballroom now that the East Wing had been demolished. > > Two members of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit repeatedly pressed administration lawyers about its argument that President Donald Trump’s pet project — now well underway — could not be stopped by the courts even if it was found to be illegal, because it was too far along and involved significant national security interests. > > “When did it become a fait accompli?” Judge Patricia Millett asked. “If this were complete lawlessness by the government … it couldn’t be stopped?” > > “On these theories, I think that’s right,” replied Yaakov Roth, a Justice Department attorney. > > Millett, an Obama appointee, peppered Roth with questions about the extent of the Trump administration’s view of its power to “move fast and break things” without being subject to legal challenge. > > “If the government decides, very quickly, to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty — the people whose ancestors that was the first thing they saw coming to this country, but the government moved too fast — nothing can be done?” the judge asked. > > “I think that’s right, yes,” Roth responded. Once again, I am left staring at the fiasco with an expression on my face like that of a cow that has just stepped on its own udder.