A federal judge rebuked the Donald Trump administration on Thursday from the bench, taking exception in part to a Truth Social posted by the president earlier this week.
Trump used his favourite social media platform on Tuesday, responding to a judge’s ruling, to suggest that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP) benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government,” a reference to the partial government shutdown that is now the longest in U.S. history.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to walk back Trump’s post hours later, suggesting the administration would comply, but the damage was done.
In the eyes of the judge in the case, John McConnell, Trump “stated his intent to defy the court order.” McConnell made his comments Thursday as he gave the White House another 24 hours to fund the November instalment for some 42 million SNAP recipients. The Trump administration signalled its intent to appeal that order.
Vice-President JD Vance lashed out at McConnell in the latest incident, a continuation of a trend that separates the second Trump presidential administration from the first.
McConnell’s comments are just the latest example in which this administration’s use of social media has been of no small consequence in the courts. In some cases, judges are expressing frustration with the inability of White House and Justice Department officials to let legal proceedings play out and refrain from spreading their personal beliefs on social media or cable news programs.
Here are some other examples:
Judge orders posts be taken down
As the second Trump administration drastically ramped up deportation efforts of unauthorized American residents compared to his first term, Democratic lawmakers sought access to federal facilities to see what kind of conditions detainees were being held in.
In early May, Newark’s mayor and a handful of Democratic Congress members were prevented from accessing the Delaney Hall facility in that New Jersey city, in a scene that grew heated.
After the melee, first-term Rep. LaMonica McIver was subsequently indicted on three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officials. The charges carry the potential for a years-long prison sentence if McIver is convicted.
After multiple complaints from McIver’s legal representatives, the judge in her case in late October ordered the government to remove nine social media posts from accounts belonging to the Department of Homeland Security and one of its spokespersons. In those posts, McIver’s actions were characterized as “criminal,” part of “a reckless stunt by sanctuary politicians,” and she was linked to “Antifa-aligned domestic extremism.”
“It’s not factual,” U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper said on Oct. 21. “The prejudicial nature of it is self-evident.”
Several posts were taken down, but an Immigration and Customs Enforcement post describing the 39-year-old McIver as having “attacked ICE officers” is still live.
ICE calls man ‘worst of the worst’ after his acquittal
While the SNAP legal battle and McIver prosecution have received national attention, another reproach of the federal government came in a less-noticed court proceeding in Utah last month.
Erwin Ramirez Castro, who made eight appearances for Ecuador’s national soccer team in the 1990s as a keeper, is alleged by federal officials to have been in the United States unlawfully since early 2024.
In June, police in Utah were called after a neighbour heard what appeared to be a domestic dispute between Ramirez Castro and his fiancée. He subsequently faced charges in the case.
After U.S. President Donald Trump, his adviser Elon Musk and some Republican lawmakers called to impeach judges for unfavourable rulings, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare public statement, saying that the appeals process exists to respond to judicial disagreements.
In August, a post on X from ICE featured several individuals deemed to the “worst of the worst” included Ramirez Castro. However, the post — which was shared on social media by a couple of Utah Republicans — occurred after Ramirez Castro was acquitted of all charges in the matter with his domestic partner.
After the acquittal, the Trump administration sought to detain Ramirez Castro using a new law for what they hope is his eventual deportation. He then spent two months in custody at an ICE facility in Nevada, but District Judge Richard Boulware ordered him released, ruling that the legislation the administration cited applied to those convicted of crimes or those arrested who had yet to have their cases fully adjudicated, not those acquitted.
Michael Kagan, University of Nevada-Las Vegas Immigration Clinic director, whose organization represents Ramirez Castro, told the Las Vegas Sun the ICE posts “should raise severe doubts for everyone about the lack of truth behind much of this propaganda effort to smear immigrants.”
The death penalty case
Luigi Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania after a five-day manhunt in the final weeks of Joe Biden’s administration, but it is the Justice Department in Trump’s administration taking over the federal prosecution on charges connected to the fatal shooting in Manhattan of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Judge Margaret M. Garnett was previously piqued by specific statements made earlier this year by Attorney General Pam Bondi on social media and Fox Media, when Bondi heralded the fact that the Justice Department would seek the death penalty for Mangione.
Garnett’s displeasure then increased in September as she said the administration likely violated a New York rule limiting what prosecutors can say publicly about a defendant’s guilt or innocence.
That month, in the wake of the fatal shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, Trump said Mangione “shot someone in the back as clear as you’re looking at me” during one speech. A video excerpt of those Trump comments was then shared on X by both the White House and two Justice Department officials.
Federal prosecutor Sean S. Buckley pushed back in subsequent legal filings, arguing that Mangione’s right to a free trial hasn’t been jeopardized given the trial hasn’t started and a jury not yet empanelled.
But Mangione’s legal team has said the posts justify the courts removing the charge that is connected to a possible capital punishment sentence.
Garnett has yet to weigh in on what literally could be a life-or-death ruling for Mangione, should he be convicted.
Comey and James next?
It may have been meant as a private message from Trump to Bondi, but it went out as a public post on Truth Social on Sept. 20.
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.'”
In an apparent escalation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on his political enemies, former FBI director James Comey has now been indicted on criminal charges. For The National, CBC’s Lyndsay Duncombe lays out a timeline of how it got to this point.
That particular post was not the first time the president has publicly alleged that former FBI director James Comey, Democratic congressman Adam Schiff and New York State Attorney General Letitia James had committed various crimes. But what makes the post now paramount is that since then, Comey has been indicted on a charge of making a false statement to Congress, and one charge of obstructing a congressional proceeding, while James has been indicted on allegations of mortgage fraud.
Patrick Fitzgerald, the former federal attorney who is representing Comey, has argued his client is being singled out for a vindictive prosecution, and is urging Judge Michael Nachmanoff to dismiss all charges. Aside from Trump’s past statements, Fitzgerald said the social media addressed to Bondi “constitutes a direct admission of discriminatory purpose to single out a perceived political enemy.”
Nachmanoff has not weighed in yet on the post, which is almost certain to be mentioned by representatives of James in her criminal case.
Front Burner26:24Trump’s campaign of legal revenge
