It's not (and I never expressed surprise about it, because I suspected the administration was lying all along), but generally I expect administrations to lawyer

It's not (and I never expressed surprise about it, because I suspected the administration was lying all along), but generally I expect administrations to lawyer-dishonest - eg relying on loopholes, technicalities, fallacies, or debateable half-truths to accomplish some legal objectives. Deliberate misrepresentations of basic are grounds for more drastic outcomes like summary dismissal with prejudice, impeachment, general loss of legitimacy.