Trump, asked if he has to 'uphold the Constitution,' says, 'I don't know'

[LetMyPeopleVote]

38. The Constitution requires due process and the SCOTUS has unanimously ruled that due process is required

trump is listening to idiots if he thinks that he can ignore due process. trump swore and oath to defend the Constitution and so far the courts are consistent in ruling that the Constitution requires due process

BREAKING: Trump says on Meet The Press that he doesn't know if everyone deserves due process.

When asked if he has to uphold the Constitution, he says "I don't know, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me."

This should be an IMPEACHABLE defense. Who agrees?

— Krassensteins (@krassenstein.bsky.social) 2025-05-04T14:04:55.229Z

Link to tweet

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-asked-uphold-constitution-says-dont-know-rcna204580

The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment says “no person” shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”; it does not say that person must be a U.S. citizen, and the Supreme Court has long recognized that noncitizens have certain basic rights. Trump has also said that while “we always have to obey the laws,” he would like to see some “homegrown criminals” sent to El Salvador as well, a proposal that was widely panned by legal experts.

When Welker tried to point out what the Fifth Amendment said, Trump suggested that such a process would slow him down too much.

“I don’t know. It seems — it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials,” he said. “We have thousands of people that are — some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth.”

“I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it,” he added.

“But even given those numbers that you’re talking about, don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?” Welker asked.

“I don’t know,” Trump replied. “I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.”

The Supreme Court has already made it clear to the Trump administration in three different recent decisions that it has to allow basic due process rights for immigrants based on the long-standing understanding of the laws.

That would not require full trials, as Trump suggested. What it would require is the chance to appear before an immigration judge. Such judges are not part of the judicial branch; they are employees of the Justice Department. Administration officials have spoken out against such constraints, leading to allegations that they have defied instructions from lower court judges and even the Supreme Court.