Executive Power

DOJ Claim That Trump Could 'Bulldoze' Statue of Liberty Fits a Pattern

It's the latest example of Justice Department attorneys claiming broad and unreviewable powers for the president.

Joe Lancaster | 6.9.2026 10:15 AM

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(Illustration: Adani Samat/Midjourney)

One shouldn't get into the habit of feeling sorry for high-ranking federal employees, who wield power over our lives and get a salary of our tax money for their trouble. Still, serving as a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyer arguing on behalf of the government seems like an unenviable gig, as accomplished attorneys are reduced to backfilling legal defenses of their bosses' harebrained schemes.

When President Joe Biden decided to wipe out broad swathes of student loan debt, the DOJ argued that he could do so without Congress' approval using a law explicitly tailored to soldiers in active duty. The HEROES Act allowed the government to waive student loan repayment during "a war or other military operation or national emergency"; Biden's DOJ argued that the then-ongoing COVID-19 national emergency qualified to forgive billions of dollars in student loans for millions of borrowers. (By a 6–3 margin, the U.S. Supreme Court was unconvinced.)

But nowadays that example seems almost quaint. President Donald Trump's administration now rather routinely subjects its DOJ attorneys to the indignity of making facially indefensible claims about the president's power, simply because the executive demands it.

Last year, Trump demolished the East Wing of the White House with plans to build a gigantic ballroom in its place. His cited legal authority was a........

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