Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) dismissed the speed bump that federal judges are putting on President Donald Trump’s agenda to downsize the government but stressed that these delays need to be as short as possible.
The Trump administration has appealed U.S. District Judge John McConnell’s order requiring the full restoration of all previously frozen federal spending, which was handed down as the president has sought to freeze federal aid. In reflecting on this latest bump to the Trump administration, Lee rebuked the judges for ruling against the administration’s work with Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, given how it is “entirely within the purview of the executive branch.”
“So the fact that they are doing this and they’re doing it within what the law allows, this is where Democrats get upset, and they go running to the courts,” Lee argued on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle. “Having lost in the court of public opinion, having lost elections, they’re now going to try their hand at litigating and picking off a few liberal one-off judges here and there in order to slow the process down. But make no mistake, Laura. We are going to win. The right side of this is going to prevail. This is just a matter of delay, but we need to keep this delay as brief as possible.”
Lee said one course of action the Trump administration could take against the “out-of-line” judges is by utilizing appellate courts or another manner to get arguments expedited before the Supreme Court. He expressed hope that Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom the Senate confirmed last week, will consider these options to ensure Trump’s vision can be carried out.
Lee said he expects these legal setbacks to last only “maybe a few days” and at most two weeks.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order preventing the National Institutes of Health from cutting down the amount of money given to universities for “indirect costs” of research. Musk called the decision “deeply wrong” and accused the judge of “FORCING the CORRUPTION to CONTINUE.”
This is deeply wrong!
— Harry Bōlz (@elonmusk) February 11, 2025
A judge just blocked dropping the overhead charged on NIH grants from the outrageous 60% to a far more reasonable 15%.
This judge is FORCING the CORRUPTION to CONTINUE.
WTF. https://t.co/3CSA6aZ0Jd
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Judges prolonging corrupt spending
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) February 11, 2025
Share if you agree that this seems … wrong https://t.co/q4erRwSsMc
Lee echoed Musk’s statement on X, accusing the judges of “prolonging corrupt spending.”
The president has also weighed in on these judicial decisions, accusing “activists and highly political judges” of attempting to slow down his administration’s work. He stressed that slowing his administration’s momentum would halt exposing the government’s waste, which he said is “turning out to be a disaster” for those in government work.