Kristi Noem reveals she’s above the law, will decide for herself which judges and rulings are legitimate

Kristi Noem believes the law doesn’t apply to her. Last week, the Justice Department said in a court filing that Noem was fully aware of a judge’s order blocking the highly questionable mass-deportation of migrants to El Salvador, but chose to ignore it and didn’t order the planes to turn around.

Without wanting to get all Civics 101, the rule of law and respecting the decisions of the judiciary are a crucial part of the system of checks and balances that the Founding Fathers laid down, and why the United States flourished where so many tin-pot republics floundered.

But, on an appearance on ABC News last night, Noem simply explained she has the right to pick and choose which judges she listens to based on what she thinks their politics are. And, to nobody’s surprise, any judge who orders her to do something she disagrees with is a liberal activist judge she doesn’t need to pay attention to.

KARL: Did you know about the judge's order when you issued your order for the planes to continue?

KRISTI NOEM: This is an activist judge. We comply with all federal orders that are lawful and binding. pic.twitter.com/H5ACcaFvUv

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 30, 2025

When asked about why she ignored the judge’s order, Noem replied:

“Yes I made that decision, and that decision was under my complete authority … This is an activist judge and I understand uh, we’re still in litigation with this activist judge who’s continuously tried to stop us. … We comply with all federal orders that are lawful and binding.”

A very dangerous moment

Yeah, so here’s the thing. You don’t get to pick and choose which orders you think are lawful and binding. You can certainly disagree with them completely, but in that case, you can file an appeal and argue why it’s not lawful in court.

In the grand scale of all the horrible things the Trump administration has done, is doing and will do, this may seem like small potatoes, but a senior member of the administration casually explaining to the public on national TV that the law no longer applies to them should terrify you.

I guess the silver lining is that her openly admitting to flouting a judge’s order should mean a contempt case against her is an easy win. But then, even if Noem is found guilty of contempt of court, she’d be instantly pardoned by Trump. And that it’s if it ever made it to court in the first place!