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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, the largest and fastest growing conservative youth activist organization in the country with over 250,000 student members, over 150 full-time staff, and a presence on over 2,000 high school and college campuses nationwide. Charlie is also the Chairman of Students for Trump, which aims to activate one million new college voters on campuses in battleground states in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. His social media reaches over 100 million people per month and according to Axios, he is one of the "top 10 most engaged" Twitter handles in the world. He is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which regularly ranks among the top news shows on Apple podcast charts.
Charlie Kirk and Alex Marlow Expose How Federal Judges Are Vetoing Trump's Presidential Agenda
Charlie Kirk sits down with Alex Marlow, editor-in-chief of Breitbart and host of The Alex Marlow Show, to discuss a troubling trend: unelected federal judges across America blocking President Trump's agenda through preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders. From a Biden-appointed judge in Massachusetts halting NIH spending caps to judges blocking federal employee terminations, Marlow reveals how liberal judges, some appointed as far back as Bill Clinton, are wielding extraordinary power over the democratically elected president. The conversation explores seven egregious cases, including judges who are mega-donors to Democrats and those who openly mock Christians from the bench, raising serious questions about whether America is heading toward a super-judiciary like Brazil and Israel.
Charlie Kirk opens the conversation by highlighting the confusion many Americans feel: how can a federal judge in a remote location like the Northern Mariana Islands have the power to veto a president? Alex Marlow explains that this is the left's primary weapon now that they've lost cultural momentum and legislative control. While Trump enjoys victories like being cheered at the Super Bowl while Taylor Swift gets booed, and continues securing confirmations, liberal judges represent the last line of defense for the opposition.
Marlow describes how this system works: activists file complaints in jurisdictions where they know liberal judges preside. These judges—many appointed by Biden, Obama, or even Bill Clinton—issue preliminary injunctions or temporary restraining orders that can shut down Trump's initiatives for extended periods. Even if these orders eventually get overturned by more conservative courts, the delay itself becomes a victory for the opposition.
Seven Egregious Examples of Judicial Overreach
Marlow details seven particularly troubling cases of judicial intervention, though he notes more have emerged since his original reporting at Breitbart News:
Judge Angel Kelley (U.S. District Court of Massachusetts) - A Biden nominee who Marlow describes as a DEI hire, someone who has admitted to being elevated because she's African-American and Asian, and who uses DEI hiring practices herself. Elizabeth Warren praised Kelley as someone who's made a personal mission to bring about change through her role on the bench. Judge Kelley blocked Trump and Elon Musk's effort to cap overhead spending at the National Institutes of Health at 15%, preventing the administration from limiting wasteful administrative expenses that don't fund actual research.
Senior Judge Amy Berman Jackson (U.S. District Court of District of Columbia) - An Obama appointee and Democratic donor who built her reputation jailing January 6th prisoners. She recently issued a temporary restraining order blocking Trump from firing a Biden-appointed official from the Office of Special Counsel, preventing what should be routine presidential authority to remove Deep State personnel.
Chief Judge John J. McConnell (U.S. District Court of Rhode Island) - A mega-donor to Democrats who blocked Trump's spending freeze. Marlow emphasizes that McConnell isn't just a casual donor but someone who built a huge war chest in the private sector before assuming the bench, where he now conducts left-wing activism through judicial rulings.
Senior Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly - A judge who openly mocked a Christian family to their face when a 77-year-old dying person who had been sentenced to jail for protesting at an abortion clinic appeared before her. She told them to "make every effort to stay alive as part of the tenants of your religion," demonstrating open contempt for Christians from the bench.
America's Slide Toward a Super-Judiciary
Kirk draws a comparison to Brazil and Israel, where a super-judiciary effectively runs the country. In those nations, an elite class of entrenched legal minds holds veto power over the will of the people. Kirk warns that while America isn't there yet, the current trend shows the country blindly barreling in that direction.
Marlow agrees completely, calling this a genuine constitutional crisis. When judges openly subvert the democratically elected president at this level, the courts are asserting themselves above the other branches of government. He points out the contradiction: there's a super-legislative power where bureaucrats claim Congress has implied powers beyond what's written, and now a super-judicial power, while Article II—the presidency—continues to shrink. The presidency has diminishing power over the bureaucracy, while judges and Congress claim increasing authority.
The Irony of Presidential Elections
Marlow highlights the absurdity of the situation: Americans invest enormous cultural energy in presidential elections, treating them as the greatest show on earth and the ultimate sport of politics. Trump wins with over 70 million votes and support from more than 30 states, then tries to implement exactly what he promised during the campaign. Yet judges that most Americans have never heard of—and Marlow admits he hadn't heard of most of them despite studying this religiously—can simply stand athwart the democratic will and say no.
Solutions and the Path Forward
When Kirk asks how this situation resolves, both acknowledge there's no easy answer. The only recourse is time, as cases must work their way up to the Supreme Court. But the current system allows a single judge to veto presidential activity through temporary orders.
Marlow offers several strategic recommendations:
Flood the Zone - Trump's approach of pursuing multiple initiatives simultaneously is correct. Even though it means less time celebrating victories, it forces the opposition to work harder. If they block 25% of the agenda, that's better than blocking 50% or 75% of a smaller agenda.
Win Every Single Election - Marlow praises the work of Turning Point Action, emphasizing that larger majorities in Congress and the Senate provide more options for using the Constitution and legislation to expand rules and change the system.
Think Outside the Box - Marlow suggests creative solutions like limiting the Ninth Circuit, noting it's too large. He points out that the Eleventh Circuit only came into existence in the 1980s, showing these structures can be modified.
Tap Constitutional Experts - Working with senators like Mike Lee who understand these issues deeply to develop innovative approaches to limit judicial overreach.
Kirk makes a crucial constitutional point that many Americans don't realize: circuit courts are a creation of Congress, not the Constitution. Only the U.S. Supreme Court was originally established in the founding document. Congress has the authority to eliminate circuit courts entirely—they don't need the Eleventh Circuit or even the Ninth Circuit. These judges, Kirk warns, are playing with fire.
A Long-Term Strategy
Marlow acknowledges that implementing these changes will take years, but the work must begin now. Just as Trump prepared his executive orders before taking office and executed them immediately upon inauguration, conservatives need to prepare legislative and structural changes so they can move quickly the moment they have sufficient numbers. The strategy must be to run headlong into reform and make the opposition stop them, rather than asking permission or moving cautiously.
The conversation concludes with Marlow plugging The Alex Marlow Show, available on Salem Radio and all major podcast platforms including YouTube, Rumble, iTunes, and Spotify, noting that it's going incredibly well with a great start.
