By Rieley McDonnell, Staff Writer

If President Donald Trump outright defies court orders, then the U.S. will enter into a constitutional crisis. It seems like this is the path we are going down.

A constitutional crisis does not have a concrete definition, but is generally understood to be when one branch of government tries to disregard the other two branches and change the basic rules of the political game. So, say if the president decides that the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) or other federal court rulings do not matter, then it could be a warning sign of an incoming or current crisis.

Trump and some of his advisors have suggested that the president’s power should not be limited by the courts, which is a stepping stone to outright defying court orders.

“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vice President JD Vance posted on X. 

The authority of the executive, the president, is a gray area in U.S. politics. This role and authority has expanded over the history of the U.S., but what Vance is implying here has a dangerous tone.

Vance is implying that the court, whose job is to interpret the law, should not tell the president what the law means. The court’s job is literally to tell the government what the laws mean. The branches all have their jobs: Congress makes the laws, SCOTUS interprets the laws and the president enforces the laws.

This administration is trying to reshape the branches of government, reshape the branches’ powers and is playing into a political theory called the unitary executive theory (UET). 

The UET “has various iterations but centers on the idea that the Constitution gives the president sole control over the executive branch of government,” writer for ABC News Alexandra Hutzler said. It would seem to make sense that the executive has control of the executive branch, but this is a slippery slope. 

If the executive has full control of the executive branch, then the role of checks and balances by the other two branches becomes blurry. The courts then have no role in telling the executive how to execute the laws, because the executive has full control over their execution. Congress also has no role in the confirming or firing secretaries of executive agencies they create, because the executive chooses secretary candidates. Therefore it should be in their power to do what they please with these agencies.

This is a slope that, if gone down, will cause a constitutional crisis to occur. The UET, if applied to this extreme extent, would push the legislative and judicial branches out of the government and make a monarch out of a public servant.

However, the country is not there just yet. The courts are still making decisions and Trump is only “flirting” with the idea of disobeying these rulings. He is pushing the bounds of what he can do.

For example, he paused the disbursement of congressionally-appointed funds. This is in violation of the U.S. Constitution because Congress has the power to pull the purse strings and give money to whomever they choose. Trump stopped this disbursement to try and stop “wasteful spending” without investigating how the money is actually being spent. A judge then blocked this order.

Trump said this stoppage of his order was a “disgrace” and is trying to continue these legal battles over the orders, but is somewhat complying with the court orders. However, he is not fully complying with what the judges are telling him to do.

The bounds of the law and of the constitution are being tested by the current administration. The U.S. government is in an unstable place, but not all hope is lost. The courts are still going to make judgments, and Congress can check the power of the president if they play their cards right and do not just push Trump’s agenda.

While the U.S. may not be in a constitutional crisis right now, the slope is slippery and Trump is trying to add water to their slope. He wants to be on top while the rest of the government, and the history it stands on, slides down around him.