唐纳德·特朗普总统就职三周后，联邦司法机构开始遏制总统单方面的努力重塑联邦政府.
周六，纽约的一名联邦法官堵塞的与埃隆马斯克(Elon Musk)政府效率部(DOGE)有关的个人无法访问实际上作为政府支票簿的东西，周一波士顿的一名法官将考虑是否暂停一项全面收购要约，该要约可能会历史性地缩小联邦政府的规模。
随着马斯克现在开始考虑无视法院命令或针对法官的想法，政府的第三个分支可能很快就会面临现代历史上前所未有的场景——美国总统公开并自愿不服从法院命令。
根据曾在拜登政府担任高级政策顾问的宪法教授贾斯汀·莱维特(Justin Levitt)的说法，尽管这样的挑战尚未实现，但联邦法院有几个选项来执行他们的命令。
法院给出的第一个选择是成倍增加罚款，不仅针对像埃隆·马斯克这样的人，还包括为DOGE工作的年轻员工。
莱维特说:“这些制裁可能会很快带来痛苦。“你今天欠我1000美元，明天加倍，第二天加倍，第二天再加倍，第三天再加倍。指数曲线并不友好，这将开始累积成一大笔真正的钱，一个25岁的人将为此承担责任。”
虽然世界首富马斯克可能不会感受到1000美元罚款的痛苦，也不会在经济上支持DOGE的员工，但罚款金额可能会迅速增加。
莱维特说:“这笔钱来得太快了，所以我认为即使是世界上最富有的人也不可能在法庭命令下等待很长时间。”。
制裁后的下一个选择可能包括无限期监禁，直到法院命令得到遵守。莱维特表示，虽然特朗普对刑事犯罪拥有赦免权，但他的赦免权不涉及民事救济。
“判决应该是，‘我要把你关进监狱，直到你执行了我让你执行的命令，’”莱维特说。
据莱维特说，通常情况下，国会可以行使其权力来防止总统越权，但共和党多数派没有表示愿意这样做;相反，一些共和党人开始提出相反的建议。
周六，共和党参议员汤姆·科顿。，建议美国地区法官保罗·恩格尔迈尔(Paul Engel Mayer)——他阻止了多吉进入财政部——应该被禁止审理任何与特朗普政府有关的案件。与此同时，在众议院，加利福尼亚州共和党众议员达雷尔·伊萨(Darrell Issa)表示，他将在本周推出新的立法，“阻止这些流氓法官，让特朗普和多吉告诉你政府把钱花在了哪里。”
What would happen if Musk tries to defy court orders?
Three weeks after President Donald Trump's inauguration, the federal judiciary is beginning to rein in the president's unilateral efforts toreshape the federal government.
On Saturday, a federal judge in New Yorkblockedindividuals associated with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing what effectively serves as the government's checkbook, and on Monday a judge in Boston will consider whether to pause a sweeping buyout offer that could historically reduce the size of the federal government.
With Musk now flirting with the idea of defying court orders or targeting judges, the third branch of government might soon confront an unprecedented scenario in modern history -- the president of the United States openly and willingly disobeying a court order.
While such a challenge is yet to materialize, the federal courts have a few options to enforce their orders, according to constitutional law professor Justin Levitt, who previously served as a senior policy adviser in the Biden administration.
The first option that the courts yield is exponentially escalating fines that could not only target someone like Elon Musk but also the young employees working for DOGE.
"Those sanctions can be quick and swiftly painful," Levitt said. "You owe me $1,000 today, double it tomorrow, double it the next day, double it again the next day, double it again the next day. Exponential curves are not kind, and that'll start adding up to a whole bunch of real money for which a 25-year-old is going to be liable."
While Musk -- the world's richest man -- might not feel the sting of a thousand dollar fine or could financially back DOGE employees, the amount could increase quickly.
"That's real money in a hurry and so I don't think that even the richest man in the world can wait out defiance with a court order for any extended period of time," Levitt said.
The next option after sanctions could include an indefinite period of incarceration until the court order is obeyed. While Trump has pardon power for criminal offenses, his pardon power does not touch civil remedies, according to Levitt.
"The sentence would be, 'I'm going to put you in jail until you execute what I have told you to execute,'" Levitt said.
Normally Congress could exercise its authority to prevent the president overstepping his power, but the Republican majority hasn't signaled its willingness to do such a thing, according to Levitt; instead, some Republicans are beginning to propose just the opposite.
On Saturday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., suggested that U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer -- who blocked DOGE's access to the Treasury -- should be forbidden from hearing any case related to the Trump administration. Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said he would introduce new legislation this week to "stop these rogue judges and allow Trump and DOGE to tell you where the government is spending your money."
