Here’s what happened this week under the Trump administration that you may have missed.
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Trump is pressing the gas on his construction projects
There were a lot of developments this week on Trump’s efforts to remake D.C. landmarks and create new ones. Trump laid out extensive plans to revamp a historic public golf course in Washington that include eliminating a public road.
The administration is already in a heated court battle over cutting down hundreds of trees on the course despite a judge telling them not to. On the same day this week that Trump called that judge a “crazed lunatic,” she shared that she has faced death threats.
“A federal judge is getting death threats over a golf course,” U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes said in a hearing. “I really don’t think that’s what the founders envisioned.”
Trump has been racing to remake historic landmarks before the courts can chime in. The Trump administration announced this week that it could start building Trump’s enormous triumphal arch in the next two weeks, despite a federal judge considering whether to halt the project.
One judge has warned Trump not to start construction on the arch, citing how Trump knocked down the East Wing of the White House to build his ballroom without asking Congress and before the courts could fully weigh in. (The Supreme Court ultimately cleared the way for Trump to build his ballroom but did not rule on the merits of whether it was legal.)
Also this week, historic preservationists worry that new plans the administration shared for redesigning the National Mall could be cover for Trump to build a massive sculpture garden on a piece of land that would likely need congressional approval.
Trump’s deportations could face more scrutiny in court
One of Trump’s most high-profile attempts to deport someone could soon be considered by the Supreme Court. Mahmoud Khalil, a former university student and legal permanent resident, is asking for protection from deportation after more than a year fighting with the Trump administration.
Khalil was arrested months after Trump took office for his pro-Palestinian protests, with the administration saying his presence would “undermine U.S. policy to combat antisemitism.” Free speech experts worried this was part of a broader campaign within the Trump administration to stamp out speech the government doesn’t agree with.
Khalil was detained, missing the birth of his first child, until courts eventually forced the administration to release him. He’s since been fighting in the courts to avoid deportation and this week asked the Supreme Court to weigh in.
It’s not clear if or when the court would take the case, my Post colleagues report. The justices are already hearing several cases this fall on Trump’s immigration policies, which have led to nearly 1 million deportations in 18 months, with many more people held in detention centers across the country.
This week, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to release a 79-year-old pastor in Colorado after he was held in detention for 13 months and lost the ability to walk. And a group of leaders in the agricultural industry warned that Trump’s deportations are hurting their food supplies and could lead to higher grocery prices.
A Supreme Court justice says its election rulings have harmed democracy
The Supreme Court has been playing a major role in how Americans vote in these midterm elections.
Just this summer, the justices rolled back restrictions on campaign finance, a decision that benefits the Republican Party because of its huge cash advantage over Democrats. And in the past year, the justices have also upheld aggressive redistricting efforts in Texas and California.
The court did rule against Trump in one high-profile case, blocking his efforts to use the Postal Service to make it harder to vote by mail.
This week, Justice Elena Kagan, a liberal justice, said the court’s decisions have damaged democracy.
“In all these areas, the court has kind of blinded itself to the very deleterious effects of their rulings on how the political system works,” Kagan said of the court’s rulings on voting. “It has created a democracy that does not work as well as it should.”
She said a decision in 2019 that effectively allows gerrymandering for political purposes is also to blame for the current political environment.
That decision is “driving people away from the center toward the wings, toward the extremes,” Kagan said. “Making what I think is, unfortunately, a too polarized country even more so.”
Amber Phillips writes The 5-Minute Fix newsletter, a quick analysis of the day’s biggest political news. Send her an email here, or ask a question that could be featured in an upcoming newsletter.
The post Trump is pressing the gas on his construction projects appeared first on Washington Post.
