Senate Republican breaks with MAGA to back judges in Trump fight

WASHINGTON — The Republican chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee raised eyebrows by breaking with GOP orthodoxy when he told Raw Story federal courts are an essential check on the White House during this ongoing government shutdown.

While citing Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and his sponsorship of a bill that would end the drama surrounding government shutdowns, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) exclusively told Raw Story the most important things for this divided Congress to fund are the courts — which have blunted, blocked, delayed and dismantled much of the MAGA momentum President Donald Trump has tried to rule with since January.

"I told Sen. Lankford that ... if he can't [pass] his entire bill to stop the shutdowns of government generally, he at least ought to get one for the judicial branch," Grassley told Raw Story Thursday — a day before the nation’s courts are expected to run out of funds.

Asked why the courts are so important, Grassley said: "Equal justice under the law."

That’s counter to Trump and other Republicans’ efforts to limit the power of courts, evident throughout this 119th Congress.

This spring, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed a measure to curtail federal judges’ power to issue broad national injunctions, even as MAGA Republicans have followed Trump’s lead and introduced articles of impeachment targeting five separate federal judges.

But Grassley doesn’t seem to have gotten the MAGA memo.

The 92-year-old Iowan’s words could be taken to indicate that he sees the courts as the final backstop against potential future Trump power grabs.

Only this week, a federal judge halted White House attempts to fire federal workers during the shutdown, a tactic meant to hurt Democrats who refuse to pass a GOP budget measure without concessions on healthcare cuts and action to avoid rising costs.

‘We’ll give them money'

Lankford's bill, the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2025, would “take shutdowns off the table and force Congress to stay in town until their work is done,” according to a release.

A companion measure in the House is sponsored by House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX).

The measure also seeks to "provide for a period of continuing appropriations in the event of a lapse in appropriations under the normal appropriations process” and to “establish procedures and consequences in the event of a failure to enact appropriations, and for other purposes."

Courts have stayed open this far into the shutdown by “using court fee balances and other funds not dependent on a new appropriation,” according to the Administrative Office of the US Courts.

“If the shutdown continues after Judiciary funds are exhausted,” the body states, “the courts will then operate under the terms of the Anti-Deficiency Act, which allows work to continue during a lapse in appropriations if it is necessary … under this scenario, each court and federal defender’s office would determine the staffing resources necessary to support such work.”

Elsewhere at the Capitol on Thursday, as Raw Story sought reactions to Grassley’s remarks and whether senators were concerned by the impending lapse in court funding, most chose not to court controversy.

Asked if he was concerned about the federal judiciary running out of money, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), a member of the Judiciary and Budget Committees, said: “Nah, we'll give them money. They can move some money around.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), another Budget Committee member, said: “It's crazy we have to shut down. I … assume the Democrats will finally wake up when the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration], you know, is put into lots of long [flight] delays and stuff like that.”

Asked whether he was as concerned for the courts as Grassley was, Scott said: “It's not right. It's not right for people to be expected to work and then they don't get paid.”

Raw Story pressed: “But when it comes to judges, because the judiciary has been a check for Congress, sometimes, are you worried about having a limp ref?”

Scott said: “No … I mean … but they ought to be paid.”

‘Shutdowns are bad’

Among Democrats, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Judiciary Committee, bluntly told Raw Story: “I don’t know what they’re going to do and which courts have residual funding.”

Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, said courts would “have to start making decisions about, like, what to prioritize.”

She added: “Shutdowns are bad. That's why the Republicans should negotiate with us to end this one.”

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the Majority Leader, has said he will hold a vote on whether to stave off steep rises in health-care costs that await millions of Americans if subsidies under the Affordable Care Act are allowed to lapse — but only if Democrats yield and reopen the government.

Democrats have rejected that overture — as, on Thursday, they once again rejected the GOP spending bill.

Friday is the 16th day of the shutdown. The longest shutdown ever, under Trump’s first administration in 2019, lasted for 35 days.