Conway Defends Trump’s Call To ‘Get Rid Of Judges’

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

White House adviser Kellyanne Conway on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s call earlier this month to “get rid of judges.”

“The President is saying, let’s stop having one or two judges in this country make immigration law for an entire country, that’s Congress’ job,” Conway said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

But it’s not clear at all that’s what Trump meant. And, while federal judges have stopped much of the Trump administration’s attempts to keep migrants and asylum seekers out of the country, immigration judges are members of the executive branch, and have been subject to precedent-setting decisions from the Trump administration itself.

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, for example, instructed immigration judges last year that domestic violence and gang violence ought not be considered grounds for asylum. (A federal judge halted Sessions’ instruction.) Sessions also instituted a quota system for immigration judges to pressure them to resolve cases more quickly, among other changes meant to fast-track deportation orders.

The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that Attorney General William Barr could attempt to institute massive changes in the immigration court system in an attempt to speed deportations and deny more asylum requests.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. That wasn’t a defense of what drump said, it was her making something up to defend.

  2. Wouldn’t it just be easier to get rid of all the laws Emporer Toadglans doesn’t like?

  3. Whoever is the Conways’ marriage counselor deserves a Nobel of some kind

  4. Gangs win.

    How far we’ve fallen from saving the world from fascism in WWII. But then, we do have a coward draft-dodger who runs from conflict.

  5. As soon as I saw KAC was appearing on Press The Meat, I decided to rearrange the sock drawer.

    A far more intellectually stimulating activity.

    And one that saved me having to buy a new TV if I had watched.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

112 more replies

Participants

Avatar for xpurg8d Avatar for bobandi Avatar for jootjoint Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for lallen56 Avatar for bonvivant Avatar for borisjimbo Avatar for lastroth Avatar for gr Avatar for shystr Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for gharlane Avatar for tena Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for khyber900 Avatar for maximus Avatar for qwerty23 Avatar for demosthenes59 Avatar for zillacop Avatar for c_stedman Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for ANNFFL

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: