No. of Recommendations: 1
But when push comes to shove, once things have reached the point where you get a clear, unambiguous requirement to comply, even the current Administration has done so.
If the Administration refused to comply with a direct judicial order, the court could issue an affirmative injunction forcing payment of the funds directly and start imposing civil and criminal sanctions against the agencies and the individuals in the government that were violating the order. The criminal contempt sanctions are subject to the pardon power, but the civil ones are not.
I'm hoping there's never a big showdown, because I might not like the outcome. Our system seems to be a little too slow, and that lends to the law being thwarted.