Is DHS being given a free pass by the courts?

Can someone tell me what's going on with DHS? The latest from Politico has me lost - Mullin refuses to commit to following court orders. He said he'd answer the question "if we didn’t think courts were politicized." That kinda sounds like dodging responsibility to me.

I've been following the news on this for a bit and it feels like the administration is getting too caught up in its own narrative to care about doing the right thing. It's hard for me to understand how someone can claim to be working for the country and then so blatantly disregard its institutions.

What's going on here? Is there some context I'm missing? Do people really think the DHS should be allowed to pick and choose which court orders it follows?