Trump Claims Sweeping Power to Nullify Laws, Letters on TikTok Ban Show - NYT

[In It to Win It]

NYT - Gift Link

Attorney General Pam Bondi told tech companies that they could lawfully violate a statute barring American companies from supporting TikTok based on a sweeping claim that President Trump has the constitutional power to set aside laws, newly disclosed documents show.

In letters to companies like Apple and Google, Ms. Bondi wrote that Mr. Trump had decided that shutting down TikTok would interfere with his “constitutional duties,” so the law banning the social media app must give way to his “core presidential national security and foreign affairs powers.”

The letters, which became public on Thursday via Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, portrayed Mr. Trump as having nullified the legal effects of a statute that Congress passed by large bipartisan majorities in 2024 and that the Supreme Court unanimously upheld.

Shortly after being sworn in, Mr. Trump issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to suspend enforcement of the TikTok ban and has since repeatedly extended it. That step has been overshadowed by numerous other moves he has made to push at the boundaries of executive power in the opening months of his second administration.

But some legal experts consider Mr. Trump’s action — and in particular his order’s claim, which Ms. Bondi endorsed in her letters, that he has the power to enable companies to lawfully violate the statute — to be his starkest power grab. It appears to set a significant new precedent about the potential reach of presidential authority, they said.

Trump Claims Sweeping Power to Nullify Laws, Letters on TikTok Ban Show

In purporting to license otherwise illegal conduct by tech firms, President Trump set a precedent expanding executive power, legal experts warned.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/u...

— Charlie Savage (@charliesavage.bsky.social) 2025-07-03T22:40:12.212Z

[Celerity]

1. sprinting towards full, open dictatorship

[In It to Win It]

2. It's like we're already there, but in denial about it

[ancianita]

9. Oh, sure as the law of gravity we're at full on fascist dictatorship.

Funded by the Koch/Thiel/Musk oligarch triumvirate and their networks.

Denial and hope don't change the facts.

[Woodycall]

17. Then it's time to take it to the people

funding this and "working the strings" in a very profound and personal way. And I'm just going to leave it at that.

[ancianita]

19. What do you recommend? I'm still all about a National American Strike.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_strike

. In Portugal, a general strike was called in 2011 by the federation of public labour unions to avert austerity measures.[106]
In Honduras, a general strike was called in 2011 by union workers, farmers and other organisations demanding better education, an increase in the minimum wage and against fuel price hikes.[107]
In Yemen, thousands of people took the streets in a general strike in 2011 to protest President Ali Abdullah Saleh.[108]
In Algeria, public sector workers in 2011 mounted a general strike for higher wages and improved working conditions.[109]
In February 1947, General Douglas MacArthur, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan, banned a planned general strike of 2,400,000 government workers, stating that "so deadly a social weapon" as a general strike should not be used in the impoverished and emaciated condition of Japan so soon after World War II. Japan's labour leaders complied with his ban.[110]
In June 2022, Tunisian workers initiated a general strike that halted all transportation.[111]
In Czechoslovakia, a 1989 general strike helped topple the communist government.

If other countries can do it, so can we.
Indivisibles and other orgs got 5 million to walk. Those same orgs can call for a general strike.
A national strike could show the bastards who are the essential producers of wealth.
Not even newly funded ICE could round us all up and ship us to their concentration camps or Sudan.

[Woodycall]

22. You'll know if your way doesn't work

or is "crushed" by force. I hope it does work. But I am very concerned that we're even talking about doing that, let alone what comes after that if it fails. What set me off today is that amid all of the "buzz" of this despicable abomination of a bill passing into law there were some scattered news reports about "legal" efforts the administration is taking to gain control of, and basically have the "last say" in, local, and state elections and election results. They're not fucking around and are thinking beyond all obstacles and countermeasures to their overthrow of the constitutional republic of the United States of America. And we need to be thinking in previously "unthinkable" terms as well. There's a lot on the line here. Like fucking, everything...

[ancianita]

24. At least I'm considering solutions that worked elsewhere. If you don't even try to think of a solution, any cynical

rejection of others' effort is a stumbling block to solidarity. Sometimes the talk has to stop and action has to happen. A general strike is an action by inaction. The longer the threat gains power, the harder will be the fight.
The list of strikes I reposted are what's worked. I didn't say they're "my way," but just worth a try.

If anyone hopes they can reason with a felon who won't govern reasonably, or whose mercenaries pose as "law and order," we might be making the same mistake the the Jews did when they thought they could appease each demand of the Nazis who, inch by inch, got them on the trains and across the German borders to be worked or gassed to death.

So what have you got. What are some "unthinkable terms".

Constantly describing the trainwreck is what corporate news already does well enough, so why further darken yourself with personal variations and do their work for them.

We're here today because some humans thought their children and the rest of us in the future should have 1) "life," 2) "liberty," and so they fought to preserve them, because they thought they were worth dying for. As Joe Biden has always said, "America is an idea. We can do anything if we do it together; we know this because we always have."

[Woodycall]

26. All I'm saying is that in my "read" of the situation, and in my opinion,

things have progressed far beyond "we'll destroy them in the midterms". I just heard again tonight (07/04/2025) from a guest on the Chris Hayes show who said (paraphrased): "the right isn't acting like they are at all concerned about facing any kind of re-election problems" "In fact, they're behaving like they know something that the rest of us don't" "It's almost like they know that there will be no more elections". They have already crossed the bright line that will bring charges of sedition and crimes against humanity against them if the Democrats get control. They are not going to "stop" now or even "tone it down". It's all-in or a life in prison (or worse) for many of them. And they know it. Just be watchful and be prepared for anything. including armed resistance if necessary because like it or not, sometimes that is what is required in the fight for democracy. Sound extreme? Well, that's exactly how this country was founded. This little exercise in "fascist USA" has been in the works for over 90 years, and they're almost there. This is as much of a turning-point as WWII. My Dad didn't ship-off to that war wearing a t-shirt with a witty slogan and carrying a clever sign. He shipped-off with a browning automatic rifle...

[ancianita]

27. I hear you loud and clear.

Yes, I heard that on Chris Hayes. It occurred to me to add that rightful suspicion to the Musk claim that it's because of him the felon won.

So yes, the "free and fair" of the midterms is our #1 threat. We will know, even after high Democratic turnouts, whether or not these latest elections prove that democracy is dead. We could have CISA and/or white hats monitoring tabulators in battlegrounds, and/or military intel doing the same, since musk has contracts with them. Also, when Marc Elias is talking with a Democratic oligarch (who is likely a monetary supporter of the Elias Group) I'm aware that something is up that they know and are not telling us because they don't want the musk network to know what they know.

True, we have cause to worry because we don't know who or what's pulling strings in the background. But we must continue as a public to establish national opinion -- through protest and polls -- to offset the lies of the felon's network, and the distractions of corporate media. I think we've established that, as shown in all kinds of polls, but we have to continue to hold sway over the nation's perspective. Thank heaven for Indivisibles and other orgs that have already organized 5 million.

[PCIntern]

28. Whenever I even mention general strike here,

I’m shouted down and nullified by the same predictable group.

Go for it.

[ancianita]

29. ...

That at least makes two of us! I'm pretty sure it's possible that national unions and Indivisibles and other organizers can make it happen. Especially after the midterm turnout, when we'll know if free and fair elections, therefore democracy, still exist.

[Jack Valentino]

21. The French had the right idea....

[Woodycall]

23. So did the Italians in Milan on April 28th, 1945

[Lovie777]

3. Nope..............

[dalton99a]

4. The Supreme Whorehouse will undoubtedly approve

The tyrant shall have everything he desires

[newdeal2]

7. Hey they deserve a summer vacation too

And an RV, and a private plane, and a gold Rolex…

[stumpysbear]

5. Sure, why not?

No one’s stopped him yet

[BidenRocks]

8. Bring in the real pigeons!

Pigeons say Coo, Coo!

[2na fisherman]

10. The ultimate nullification of laws

When will the Supreme Court realize they will be nullified too?

[JoseBalow]

11. drumpf picked the perfect Attorney General for his agenda

Don't look to the DOJ for any help from our new dictator.

[BOSSHOG]

12. 60 year old twice divorced graduate of the 99th ranked law school in the country

Seldom smiles, pretends to be a Christian, blonde, welcomes any and all guidance from the White House. Has no idea what integrity is.

[Iamscrewed]

13. I suspect the next American revolution just started

[orangecrush]

14. They sound surprised

What the fuck did they think was going to happen if pisswig got back in the office?

[Volaris]

15. 'He has refused his ascent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.'

he's already got the list, and he's gonna FIND A WAY to check every box on it, no matter how absurd.

[NoMoreRepugs]

16. Trumplandia. Get used to it. Only gonna get worse.

[JCMach1]

18. It has NOT even been 9 months

I know seems like 9 years.

[Initech]

20. Hitler weaponized the Constitution against the people.

Trump is literally following this playbook.

[intrepidity]

25. Sounds like an impeachable offense

Ho hum