Episode Details

At 3:23 this afternoon, sitting before the Senate Appropriations Committee for the first time since taking over as Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem's replacement was asked a simple question: Would he follow court orders? He refused to say yes. With that single exchange, the Department of Homeland Security found itself back in the headlines, because the man overseeing one of the most powerful agencies in the federal government would not commit to obeying the judiciary branch of our government. What happens when the people entrusted to enforce the law no longer believe they have to follow it?

Based on the events of 6-2-2026

The Breakdown:

• DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who replaced Kristi Noem in March after Trump fired her, refused four times to commit to following court orders
• Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut built the question carefully, reading from a ruling by Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz of Minnesota
• Schiltz, who clerked for Antonin Scalia and was put on the bench by George W. Bush, wrote: "ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence"
• Ninety-six court orders violated across seventy-four cases, in one state, in roughly a month
• Mullin's answer: "We will never break the Constitution and we're not going to break the law"
• Why that sounded like an answer but wasn't one. The courts decide whether the law is being broken, not the officials accused of violating it
• Mullin: "If we didn't think courts were politicized, then I would probably be able to answer that"
• "Not all judges are above the law, but sometimes they think they are"
• Murphy to the committee: members "should be really, really freaked out"
• "I think that's actually the end of our republic, if the administration willfully ignores a court order because they disagree with it or its motivation"
• The trick Mullin played: swapping in the words "the Constitution" and "the law" where "court order" belongs
• Alexander Hamilton warned about this more than two hundred years ago, calling the judiciary the weakest branch because it possesses "neither force nor will, but merely judgment"
• Courts depend on the executive branch to enforce their rulings. They have no army, no police forces
• Why this won't stop with DHS, and what happens when an election ends up before a court
• Why the most dangerous attacks on democratic institutions rarely come from chaos, but from people who know exactly what they are doing
• Why this is not really about Trump and Mullin, but about the people in Congress who are letting it happen
• Primary elections held tonight in California and five other states
• Real Americans standing in line and casting ballots, while one man in a hearing room said he might not honor a ruling he dislikes
• Votes counted. Results accepted, even by candidates who lost, even when the loser had the President's endorsement behind him

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.