In the United States the Constitution serves as the foundation for the American federal legal system. Yet, these key foundations seem to be crumbling under the current administration.

As former CTE legal pathway teacher and lawyer from Ventura, Calif., Lauren Rad puts it, the U.S. Constitution could be seen as big rocks in a jar, while the statutes from the legislature fill in the gaps of the issues that weren’t addressed in the constitution like little pebbles. The jar’s contents all come together to create the extremely complicated U.S. legal system.

The Constitution and the federal law both are supposed to be followed and hold everyone to the same standard, no matter what legal position, net worth, financial class, ethnicity, immigration status or even birth rights one has. Nothing should hinder the legality of these set rules that everyone is meant to follow. 

“It doesn’t matter who you are, who your family is, what you’ve done, [or] what you’re accused of doing. It doesn’t matter where you come from [or] whether you’re old or young, it doesn’t matter. You are entitled to the same rights, the same procedures under the law, and the law [should be] applied evenly to all of those people,” Rad said.

The Trump administration has been known to have taken unlawful actions which do not follow the same law that the administration clearly expects U.S. citizens and residents to uphold.

Many similar opinions have come up from individuals voicing similar ideas, disagreeing with the administration’s actions. 

“[The government] is clearly doing stuff that is illegal, [which is] not a new thing that governments have done, but it seems like in the past, governments at least tried to hide when they would break the law, versus [now] they just seem to do it fairly openly,” an anonymous interviewee who is a Buena staff member and a constituent of Ventura said.

With this being said, many have concerns around the legality of their actions. Commonly, an instance of an unlawful action taken by the administration is the use of money to control and manipulate entities. 

This is exemplified in the recent case that had caused Harvard University to sue the U.S. government, as president Trump had threatened to revoke funding from the University’s research projects as Harvard refused to change what was being taught despite the pushback from Trump and other employees of the administration. The case was ruled unlawful as of 2025.

“I think anybody paying attention to the news cycle has seen things that have been concerning from a constitutional standpoint, [such as] questions about Fourth Amendment violations in searches and seizures, [and other instances], there are concerns,” Rad said.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is an association that within their description is to “protect America through criminal investigations and enforcing immigration laws to preserve national security and public safety,” as stated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (USDHS) on the official government website. 

One of the most concerning actions that has sparked public reactions nation-wide, was the Trump administration’s actions taken to address immigration. Although other administrations have also enforced immigration restrictions and utilized ICE to comply with these standards, it has not been done to the extent of the current administration. This has drawn the concerned attention of the public eye.

“A lot of the stuff that is going on with ICE is blatantly against the law, detaining people and arresting people just for exercising their normal First Amendment rights to protest or engage in free speech,” a Ventura constituent said.

ICE has been detaining inhibitors of the U.S. without reasoning, physically assaulting their detainees, spraying people in the face with pepper spray, ignoring medical needs, human rights, and insufficient living environments within the detention centers for possible deportees. 

“I think [due process] keeps the legal system fair and honest. It keeps the government from bulldozing people, and I think that that is essential in a functioning democracy,” Rad said.

Another one of many illegal actions taken by president Trump was the kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife in January 2026 where the details of the operation’s legality remained murky, even after its execution. 

“It was not immediately clear what the legal and constitutional authority was for the military operation and the capture and trial of a sovereign head of state. Nor was it clear whether Trump consulted Congress beforehand,” journalist Tom Phillips stated in an article published by The Guardian.

Essentially, many of the actions and blatant misuses of power that have been taken by the Trump administration have gone against not only laws but against the very foundation that this country’s legal system was built on. Despite this, no one in this administration has received any repercussions for such acts, and they continue to remain in power.