My biggest disappointment during the Trump administration is not Donald Trump, nor is it the spineless Republicans in Congress that enable his treachery.
My biggest disappointment is the Supreme Court, in particular, the Court’s majority (the “Trump Majority”) that led the Court in failing as America’s last stop on the path to nonpartisan and objective justice. I feel like the child who, for years, depended on his father to be there in a crisis, only to learn that he abandoned the family when I needed him most.
The Trump Majority abandoned America when it needed it most and became the expediter of the deepest damage to America and the worst cruelty to its people since slavery. All of it violated their oaths to bear allegiance to the Constitution and to administer justice without favoring anyone before it.
For forever, federal court injunctions of unconstitutional behavior have been precedent for the entire country (nationwide injunctions). No longer. Trump’s majority temporarily stayed lower court injunctions blocking Trump’s enforcement of his unconstitutional executive orders, holding that Trump is likely to succeed on his claim that the District Court lacked authority to issue a nationwide injunction.
Also, in a brief, unsigned order, the Supreme Court temporality blocked an injunction issued by the a federal judge who held that immigrants are legally entitled to a meaningful opportunity to challenge their deportation with claims they would face torture, persecution or even death if removed to certain countries such as El Salvador and its most gruesome prison in the Western Hemisphere.
Trump’s Majority (in a 7-2 vote) also paused a District Court order blocking the deportation of eight men, who were detained in a shipping container in Djibouti for six weeks, to South Sudan.
As a result of these temporary stays, Trump can now swiftly deport immigrants to dangerous countries until the Supreme Court hears arguments and decides whether federal courts can issue nationwide injunctions.
Trump can also continue drastically paring the government workforce, cutting financial assistance for domestic programs, freezing foreign aid, and firing, without cause, Democratic members of federal agencies that Congress created and provided that their members cannot be removed except for good reason.
Trump can continue all these abominations until the Supreme Court hears arguments and decides that federal court injunctions blocking unconstitutional behavior are not enforceable nationwide (which is entirely predictable given their reasons for staying federal court injunctions).
That can take a very long time. Trump’s Majority has a history of seemingly intentional delays when it behooves Trump. They delayed Trump’s criminal trial brought by Jack Smith until after the 2024 election. In contrast, it took the Supreme Court just 16 days to unanimously decide that Nixon wasn’t immune from prosecution, one day to decide Bush v. Gore, to give George W. Bush the presidency
I needed a reason why Trump’s Majority abdicated its duty to bear allegiance to the Constitution and administer justice without favoring anyone before it. What I found was that Trump’s Majority bore allegiance, not to the Constitution, but to the policies favored by their primary funder and promoter, Leonard Leo , who, for decades, chaired the ultra-conservative Federalist Society and spent $1.6 billion to mastermind the appointments of John Roberts, Brett Karnaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett, and who played a key role in working with Trump to shape the Trump-favoring Supreme Court. Justice Thomas once joked that Leo was the “number 3 most powerful person in the world.” So I matched their priorities with the decisions dominated by Trump’s Majority. Here’s what I found.
Here are the priorities of Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society that Trump’s Majority accommodated:
• Keeping Trump in office: Trump’s Majority gave him impregnable immunity from criminal prosecution and delayed his criminal trials until after the 2016 election.
As stated, in contrast, it took the Supreme Court just 16 days to unanimously decide that Nixon wasn’t immune from prosecution and one day to decide Bush v. Gore, and give George W. Bush the presidency.
As to the grant of immunity, the founders of the Constitution wrote, “unlike the king of Great Britain,” the chief executive of the united states would “be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law.” Trump’s Majority threw the Constitution to the wind to accommodate Trump.
• Rolling back anti-discrimination protections in voting: Trump’s Majority upheld the South Carolina Republican legislature’s right to move 60% of black voters from their Congressional District into a white-denominated district to ensure the election of the Republican candidate.
This was a shameful, blatant, audacious violation of the 15th Amendment which provides, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color.…” But Leo and the Federalist Society go what they wanted.
• Restricting access to abortion: Enough said!
Sadly, America finds itself on a ship in a storm without a life jacket.
We can be rescued however by electing Republican members of Congress with the integrity and the courage to defy Donald Trump or by replacing existing Congressional Republicans with Democrats. Then the House could impeach and the Senate could remove Supreme Court Justices for “Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors” or under Article III, Section 1 that provides that judges “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.” It may be a long shot but, but it’s the right shot. America needs a life jacket.
