Trump admin again accused of defying court order

The American Civil Liberties Union accused the Trump administration in a new court filing of ignoring a judge's order to stop putting restrictions on grants for Head Start, the preschool program available to low-income children.

Trump has required institutions that use Head Start funding to certify they do not have diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, an issue the president has sought to root out of not just the federal government but any private-sector entity that touches the federal government. A judge in Seattle issued a preliminary injunction putting that policy on hold pending further review.

However, the ACLU argued the administration has disregarded the ruling, asking the judge to make a new order enforcing the injunction.

"The Government has failed to comply with the Order by (1) continuing to require Head Start agencies to certify compliance with the DEIA Ban, and (2) providing substantively flawed notice to Head Start agencies regarding the Order and failing to file a copy of this insufficient notice on the docket," said the filing. "Defendants’ noncompliance is causing confusion among Head Start agencies and impacting their current activities and decision making, undermining the Court’s Order."

"Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court enforce its Order," the filing continued.

The Trump administration has repeatedly faced accusations of ignoring or only selectively following court orders. It has gotten to the point where this week, when a federal judge in Minnesota asked an assistant federal prosecutor why the government wasn't complying, she replied that "the system sucks, this job sucks," and asked the judge for a contempt of court ruling so she could get 24 hours of sleep away from her impossible caseload.