Judicial Branch Page Restored To White House Site After Social Media Outcry

A view of the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Saving its biggest case for last, the Supreme Court is expected to announce its verdict Thursday on President Barack Obama's health care law. The o... A view of the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Saving its biggest case for last, the Supreme Court is expected to announce its verdict Thursday on President Barack Obama's health care law. The outcome is likely to be a factor in the presidential campaign and help define John Roberts' legacy as chief justice. But the court's ruling almost certainly will not be the last word on America's tangled efforts to address health care woes. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) MORE LESS

January 30, 2017 11:39 a.m.

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As soon as the official White House website changed hands to the Trump administration on Jan. 20, a page on the site explaining the judicial branch as part of “our government” was removed. It was restored on Monday morning.

Following reports over the weekend that Customs and Border Protection officers had defied federal judges’ orders not to detain permanent legal residents affected by President Donald Trump’s immigration order, several Twitter users noted an ominous omission from the White House website:

On the left, the White House website’s footer earlier this year. On the right, what it looks like today. Notice anything missing? pic.twitter.com/d7o8ceAcch

— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) January 30, 2017

So…..anyone know why https://t.co/Tt3OEGi3FG no longer lists the judiciary as part of the national government? pic.twitter.com/XjBd84MYt2

— Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755) January 30, 2017

Not a joke: The White House website (https://t.co/FniJMbCPjr) does not list “The Judicial Branch” under branches of “Our Government.” pic.twitter.com/mFAauIDwrN

— Fritz Hahn (@fritzhahn) January 30, 2017

In fact, a link in whitehouse.gov’s site map to the page explaining the judicial branch disappeared as the site changed hands to the Trump administration. Cached pages on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine show the link was live on whitehouse.gov at 12:00 p.m. ET on Jan. 20, while it did not appear on the page at 12:01 p.m. that same day.

Cached versions of the page after that time show denied access and 404 errors.

The page appears to have been restored Monday morning between 10:56 a.m. ET and 11:05 a.m.

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Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) is a reporter in TPM’s New York office. Prior to joining TPM, he was associate editor of The National Memo and an editorial intern at Rolling Stone.

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