Courts have threatened to hold the Trump administration in contempt. It’s time to follow through

‘Trump and his colleagues have made clear their contempt for judges who don’t see the constitution and laws the way they do.’ Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA

Late last month, a Minnesota federal court judge, Patrick Schiltz, issued an opinion detailing hundreds of instances in which the Trump administration has failed to comply with court orders. He threatened to find it in contempt and to impose penalties.

Schiltz and other federal judges have made such threats before, but they have not followed through. It is time they did, lest they turn their courts into paper tigers.