Do you really want your legacy to be the the erosion of the rule of law and resulting harm and chaos? Your court's right-wing majority (including you) has voted to put the President above the law, to gut the voting rights act, to allow unlimited corporate money into politics through the so-called Citizens United case. And your court voted to end abortion rights after 50 years, denying women control of their own bodies. Most dangerous, perhaps, is your "absolute immunity" for Trump or any other President. This is Un-Constitutional, your honor.
Sincerely,
Your neighbor (when you are at one of your vacation homes here)
Very good. One additional thought from the neighbor of people of color in Chicago who have the most to lose under the Trump regime:
Your deference to the President’s commands through the shadow docket blesses the unlawful activities of incompetent, ill-informed and malevolent officials—all unelected—to whom the President has handed the reins of administration, including Vought, Miller, Noem, Hegseth, Bondi, Kennedy and Musk. You repeatedly decline to stop these officials as they sow chaos and grief in communities across the United States in service to a president whom you, the Supreme Court, has assured is above the law for his official acts.
I think we are now living under the MVT (Miller-Vought-Tr**p) regime. Miller brings hatred of "The Other", encouraging violence. Vought brings systematic destruction of our laws and institutions, especially those that have been established to promote the common good. And T***p brings his loyal cult and his unwavering goal of self-centeredness and infantile emotionality for entertainment. And of course this serves the interest of the billionaires who own the SCOTUS. Our only choice is to RESIST!
If he were to answer, and if he were capable of being candid and straightforward, he'd say, Sure, why not?
This is what he was placed on the Court to do. He is wholly owned by gangster billionaires like Leonard Leo, Charles Koch and Harlan Crow--democracy-haters who knew the most efficient way to dismantle our constitutional democracy would be to pack the federal bench with cynical ideologues like Roberts.
Roberts was identified as an up-and-comer in the 1980s, when he earned renown during his time in the Reagan DOJ for a special gift: his ability to use the law itself, and spurious but depressingly effective constitutionalist arguments ("originalism") to dismantle civil rights and labor protections, to undo environmental and financial regulations, to attack the democratic progress of a century.
He is a shameless partisan with an unearned reputation for rectitude and a wholly unearned reputation for honor. He would tell you that the constitution is whatever he says it is.
The Roberts Constitution is a vicious, narrow, racist, misogynistic document designed to protect the interests of a handful of very wealthy men at the expense of all the rest of us.
Well said. The Federalist Society and the rightwing billionaires have been playing the long game and we see the dangerous results in the Roberts court.
I assume you are referring to the Republican President in your comment. I'm not convinced it applies to the Chief Justice other than his propensity, and the SC's propensity, to defer to a corrupt, vindictive and racist chief executive. I believe the reputation of the Roberts Court is tarnished for all time.
"That’s why Trump could not prevail on assertions “simply untethered to the facts.” I am encouraged to learn that our lower courts are working, thanks to the integrity of their judges. At least it is giving us the time till we begin counter offence.
I weep for this man's perfidy...his " sell out " of Constitutional protections for all of our people here in the United States. Do.wonder where his real " pay off " will come...the republican congressional cowards...or a Higher Power.? Hope the price.is commensurate with the level of his self serving quisling deeds.
Please be compassionate. The stays that have been overturned have caused irreparable damage to families, separated hard working, legally in the US families from their communities, authorized ICE and homeland security racial profiling, torn people from US soil to countries not their original homelands, killed people, and shown this Roberts court to be a Presidential tool of corruption.
Americans deserve better than extreme disappointment in the Highest Court of the Country.
Americans deserve better than a Chief Justice saying we don’t know what the court is for, does, or is allowed to do. Americans do know. The court is to defend the Constitution, it is to hear all evidence from both sides, it is to orderly, carefully have dialogue from a non partisan stance. It is to treat all that come before it as important. It is to give every American equal opportunity to defend themselves, or bring a grievance before the court.
What it is not is a rubber stamp that indicates the President has more rights than any immigrant. What it is not is a Court allowed to hide behind its cloak, when it makes partisan decisions based on owing the President and his backers preferential treatment.
Justice Roberts, what your court is, is a sham… worthy of the legacy of ushering in American fascism, and beginning the Trump dynasty of tyranny.
"If" for reform of the Supreme Court. I don't think so. The lessons from the Contrarian are that guardrails need to be strengthened if not to guard an against some immediate threat than from a future threat. We can hope that the MAGA Supreme Court does't disgrace the constitution when it finally rules on the merits of cases, but that hope has nothing to do with the need for court reform, regardless.
Own up, America ! Your Hitler wannabe made no secret that a return to the White House would be his "retribution tour" -- and in your stratospheric stupidity you STILL voted for him. NOW SUFFER ALL THE LIES, ALL THE CHAOS, ALL THE CRIMINALITY, ALL THE FINANCIAL RUIN, AND ALL THE OTHER DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES.
Dr. France, if only the heinous actions of the current regime/junta only affected by those who voted for the lying, orange-faced carny barker or those who decided to sit out the election. Alas, we are all suffering the consequences of having a thin-skinned, lying sociopath at the top of the executive branch of government as we watch the complete and total dismantling of basic human rights, the rule of law and fealty to the Constitution on a daily/hourly basis. No one can say they/we weren't forewarned because, as you mentioned, he promised that if he was elected again, he would go on a pogrom of retribution against his "enemies." The current POTUS is a toxic mix of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Putin, Kim Jong Il, Viktor Orban (Hungary) and Nayib Bukele (El Salvador) all wrapped into one vile package. And here we are.
In case you think Trump is the duly elected President of the U.S. He is not.
Europeans know what Putin is capable of, while Americans have had their awareness of Russian interference totally expunged and erased by the media moguls and the right wing propaganda machine, both apparently actively or passively subservient to Putin's agenda.
But European countries have been actively monitoring and fighting off Putin's (and possibly others') efforts to rig and hack their democratic elections.
The 2016 Mueller Investigation, and its extensive findings regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election, have been purged from the MSM, as well as any consideration of how Russia most certainly repeated their U.S. election interference and hacking in 2024. Not one word from the U.S. MSM regarding the HUGE possibility that the 2024 election was rigged, by various means, including hacking, cyber invasion, bomb threats, bribery, threats to and coercion of local elections officials.
Just because Trump falsely accused Democrats of election interference in 2020, doesn't mean it can't be done. It can.
Musk publicly claimed he won the 2024 election for Trump.
It most certainly wasn't just vote buying. The MSM failed miserably to do any due diligence whatsoever to investigate exactly what Musk did and how he did it. And who else was involved. Especially in the swing states.
How can we combat his methods when we don't know what they are? When nobody in our media is asking the right questions? When the entire MSM is supine in the face of glaring irregularities in the swing states?
He (and others) will do it again. He thinks we are submissive and ignorant fools.
And remember, above anything else, that every Trump accusation is an admission.
Even before the current Trump administration, there was a strong, compelling case for reform of the supreme court based on the shady financial dealings of certain justices, the court's refusal to adopt meaningful and enforceable ethics standards, and it's unprecedented disregard for facts in its rulings and its willingness to utterly disregard precedent and settled law.
Since Trump 2.0, the court hasn't even bothered to hear most cases brought against the administration, instead relying on what is supposed to be an 'emergency' docket, in which the court has sided with Trump in over 90% of cases, often trampling on lengthy, well-reasoned, and legally supported rulings against the administration.
There was already a sturdy case for supreme court reform even before Trump took office again. Now that case is a five-alarm fire. The court should be expanded to 13 members, term limits should be put in place, mandatory ethics and financial disclosures - with hefty, enforceable penalties - enacted, rules on recusals should be mandated, and the emergency docket should be severely limited by congress. This is no longer a question of 'if' the court needs reform, it's a matter of fact.
You knocked it out of the park with this piece, Jen. A clearer picture of Trump's legal skulduggery seems impossible. (The "enemies list" is chilling. Patel asserts that the list is only partial. He has missed millions of us.)
Thank you, Contrarians, for all you do to stop the slide into the pit of authoritarianism.
Your observations and conclusions are spot on and support the adage that a fish rots from the head down.
A review of the lower court and even appellate court rulings reveal that most of the judges display noble intentions in applying the law and judicial precedents to the facts and rendering a fair and non-partisan decision.
However, when these decisions percolate up to our highest court in the land, they are sucked into a cesspool of judges, 6 of whom are hell-bent on directing their law clerks to ferret out laws and decisions that can be twisted out of all proportion to support their pre-conceived hard right-wing ideologies to rubber stamp the visceral actions taken by our megalomaniac in the White House.
We are truly looking at "corruption in the palace of justice".
Look no further than Mitch McConnell, who orchestrated the sly imprimatur of " cesspool of judges 6 to tip.the butchers,'thumb on the scales of injustice for trump and his " puppeteers ....Project 25 's ( years in the planning !) billionaire buddies to begin their fascist take over of this beloved land where freedom, the rule of law once reigned so proudly...and yes...innocently. Sadly, it appears,...we were not prepared to recognize and meet the onslaught that was to come.
I'm beginning to wonder what dirt he might have uncovered on the Justices. After all, that was his mentor Roy Cohn's modus operandi: find dirt and use it to silence opposition and gain cooperation. That and outright bribery.
A lot of the dirt has already spilled out. Just look at all the money, gifts and travel lavished upon Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by his billionaire so-called "friends" whose wife openly works for an ultra right-wing conservative think tank. Don't you think that Trump would have excoriated him for taking these "gratuities" and "hospitalities" had Thomas ruled against Trump?
The Supreme Court has put itself up for sale and has been turned into a cesspool.
Trump obviously doesn’t see taking money and gifts as dirt, but as doing things the right way as demonstrated by Trump himself. Why would he excoriate someone who does what he does? He would applaud him.
Good piece, Jen. I'm a retired doc, not a lawyer. You have suggested limiting the SCOTUS 'appellate jurisdiction' more than once. Could you at some point go into detail on this?
I'm not a lawyer but the Constitution spells out a few specific cases (like suits between states) where the SCOTUS has original jurisdiction. For everything else, the Court has jurisdiction when the Congress says it does. So I guess that if a bill passes that says the SCOTUS has no appellate jurisdiction regarding this law, then the Court is taken out of the picture (assuming the President signs the passed bill or Congress overrides the President's veto.
This could be a case of "be careful what you ask for" because without a single national determination, it's easy to see different circuit courts, or even state courts, reaching different judgements with no single resolution, which would be a chaotic situation indeed. But it still may well be better than having the 6 SCROTUS Nazis running the country.
When they took up the Trump v US case instead of allowing the DC circuit’s lengthy and well reasoned ruling to stand, which would have set the stage for a J6 trial before the election, then sat on it for months, hiding the sordid truth from the public, then issued their decision “for the ages”…they ended Constitutional governance. I don’t know how we will ever get it back.
President Pinocchio may take judges for fools--as he does all who cave to his bullying and threats. But judges have the power to show themselves to be fools, or not. So far most federal judges--with the exception of the SC majority, have shown themselves to be immune to this president's insanity and to be anything but his fools.
I agree the rush to reform is the wrong approach. No matter what institution you consider, those authorized to act on behalf of the people and constitution must do their job. Changing the job description or rules will not change those who are derelict in their job and remiss in their authority. The Court needs justices who respect, defend and protect the law above the man.
This court named itself an imperial court when it decided the laws do not apply to the man heading the executive branch. That imperial disruption of the balance of power has allowed disregard for the acts and wishes of congress, the careful interpretation of the law by lower court, and the right of the individual to be protected by civil law while the courts make determinations.
The Supreme Court is not acting alone though. Republicans in Congress approved Trump’s choices to lead government agencies. These people are now driving the lawlessness supported by the SC.
Yes, notably Fetterman of PA and Shaheen of New Hampshire voted for half of his nominees. No Democrats voted for Vought, Hegseth and Kennedy. Almost all of them voted for Rubio. Here’s the official record:
I think they voted for Rubio because he was a former colleague and seemingly non-maga so they did it in a gesture of good faith that they weren't simply obstructionist and he could be a "normal" adult in the room. Rubio of course turned out to have zero character or integrity.
Because, as Robert Hubble points out, the media are not highlighting all of these abnormal behaviors, or, as Jake Tapper characterizes them, personality quirks of the president, many people are totally unaware of how dire the risk to our democracy is.
Pam, I'm so glad you mentioned Jake Tapper. There was a time when he was a hard-nosed, fire in the belly, no BS guy who abruptly ended a Sunday interview with the vile Herr Stephen Miller during the early days of T1.0. Now, he seems to have lost all credibility and has been transformed into a milquetoast hack.
Thank you for explaining the importance of the work by the lower courts and for reminding the MAGA Supreme Court of their responsibility which will soon be lost if they continue on their current decision path.
Agreed and agreed and agreed. IMHO two of the most weighty reasons the MAGA majority in the Supreme Court refuse to tether their decisions to the facts under the law are that some of them at least are receiving substantial financial benefit (aka influence money) to support the Tax Break for the Wealthy President in his illegal actions and that many of them are convinced ideologues at a level that's made them lose touch with a broader reality. I don't think this will change until we change it by expanding the court or impeaching a couple of the worst justices. (Hard to choose, there.) When the abject Republicans in Congress are voted out of office (sooner and later) they will be very busy turning things around.
In the long run the maggots on the court are working hard to make it irrelevant. Once trump decides to ignore a ruling, the gates are open for all to do the same. They have and they will.
Dear Chief Justice John Roberts,
Do you really want your legacy to be the the erosion of the rule of law and resulting harm and chaos? Your court's right-wing majority (including you) has voted to put the President above the law, to gut the voting rights act, to allow unlimited corporate money into politics through the so-called Citizens United case. And your court voted to end abortion rights after 50 years, denying women control of their own bodies. Most dangerous, perhaps, is your "absolute immunity" for Trump or any other President. This is Un-Constitutional, your honor.
Sincerely,
Your neighbor (when you are at one of your vacation homes here)
Very good. One additional thought from the neighbor of people of color in Chicago who have the most to lose under the Trump regime:
Your deference to the President’s commands through the shadow docket blesses the unlawful activities of incompetent, ill-informed and malevolent officials—all unelected—to whom the President has handed the reins of administration, including Vought, Miller, Noem, Hegseth, Bondi, Kennedy and Musk. You repeatedly decline to stop these officials as they sow chaos and grief in communities across the United States in service to a president whom you, the Supreme Court, has assured is above the law for his official acts.
I think we are now living under the MVT (Miller-Vought-Tr**p) regime. Miller brings hatred of "The Other", encouraging violence. Vought brings systematic destruction of our laws and institutions, especially those that have been established to promote the common good. And T***p brings his loyal cult and his unwavering goal of self-centeredness and infantile emotionality for entertainment. And of course this serves the interest of the billionaires who own the SCOTUS. Our only choice is to RESIST!
Thank you for adding this!
If he were to answer, and if he were capable of being candid and straightforward, he'd say, Sure, why not?
This is what he was placed on the Court to do. He is wholly owned by gangster billionaires like Leonard Leo, Charles Koch and Harlan Crow--democracy-haters who knew the most efficient way to dismantle our constitutional democracy would be to pack the federal bench with cynical ideologues like Roberts.
Roberts was identified as an up-and-comer in the 1980s, when he earned renown during his time in the Reagan DOJ for a special gift: his ability to use the law itself, and spurious but depressingly effective constitutionalist arguments ("originalism") to dismantle civil rights and labor protections, to undo environmental and financial regulations, to attack the democratic progress of a century.
He is a shameless partisan with an unearned reputation for rectitude and a wholly unearned reputation for honor. He would tell you that the constitution is whatever he says it is.
The Roberts Constitution is a vicious, narrow, racist, misogynistic document designed to protect the interests of a handful of very wealthy men at the expense of all the rest of us.
Well said. The Federalist Society and the rightwing billionaires have been playing the long game and we see the dangerous results in the Roberts court.
Hope you post this on his front door!
His legacy will be millions in the bank for his children. I don't think he cares about the country, rule of law, etc.
I assume you are referring to the Republican President in your comment. I'm not convinced it applies to the Chief Justice other than his propensity, and the SC's propensity, to defer to a corrupt, vindictive and racist chief executive. I believe the reputation of the Roberts Court is tarnished for all time.
There was a time when Robert’s seemed concerned about the legacy of his court but that time has passed. He is either bribed or under threat.
Or just doesn't care anymore.
Maybe all three.
I think he does not want to be in the minority in Court decisions. So he has decided to get out in front of his right wing colleagues.
"That’s why Trump could not prevail on assertions “simply untethered to the facts.” I am encouraged to learn that our lower courts are working, thanks to the integrity of their judges. At least it is giving us the time till we begin counter offence.
roberts is proud of what he has done
I weep for this man's perfidy...his " sell out " of Constitutional protections for all of our people here in the United States. Do.wonder where his real " pay off " will come...the republican congressional cowards...or a Higher Power.? Hope the price.is commensurate with the level of his self serving quisling deeds.
I assume his answer is, "Yes," but not aloud. Aloud, it would be a tap dance and a Gish Gallop with a little legalese thrown around for giggles.
Justice Roberts,
Please be compassionate. The stays that have been overturned have caused irreparable damage to families, separated hard working, legally in the US families from their communities, authorized ICE and homeland security racial profiling, torn people from US soil to countries not their original homelands, killed people, and shown this Roberts court to be a Presidential tool of corruption.
Americans deserve better than extreme disappointment in the Highest Court of the Country.
Americans deserve better than a Chief Justice saying we don’t know what the court is for, does, or is allowed to do. Americans do know. The court is to defend the Constitution, it is to hear all evidence from both sides, it is to orderly, carefully have dialogue from a non partisan stance. It is to treat all that come before it as important. It is to give every American equal opportunity to defend themselves, or bring a grievance before the court.
What it is not is a rubber stamp that indicates the President has more rights than any immigrant. What it is not is a Court allowed to hide behind its cloak, when it makes partisan decisions based on owing the President and his backers preferential treatment.
Justice Roberts, what your court is, is a sham… worthy of the legacy of ushering in American fascism, and beginning the Trump dynasty of tyranny.
I'm hoping that you actually sent this to Justice Roberts.
Please send this to all of them
Dear Neighbor,
That's what I was groomed for.
JGR
"If" for reform of the Supreme Court. I don't think so. The lessons from the Contrarian are that guardrails need to be strengthened if not to guard an against some immediate threat than from a future threat. We can hope that the MAGA Supreme Court does't disgrace the constitution when it finally rules on the merits of cases, but that hope has nothing to do with the need for court reform, regardless.
Own up, America ! Your Hitler wannabe made no secret that a return to the White House would be his "retribution tour" -- and in your stratospheric stupidity you STILL voted for him. NOW SUFFER ALL THE LIES, ALL THE CHAOS, ALL THE CRIMINALITY, ALL THE FINANCIAL RUIN, AND ALL THE OTHER DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES.
Dr. France, if only the heinous actions of the current regime/junta only affected by those who voted for the lying, orange-faced carny barker or those who decided to sit out the election. Alas, we are all suffering the consequences of having a thin-skinned, lying sociopath at the top of the executive branch of government as we watch the complete and total dismantling of basic human rights, the rule of law and fealty to the Constitution on a daily/hourly basis. No one can say they/we weren't forewarned because, as you mentioned, he promised that if he was elected again, he would go on a pogrom of retribution against his "enemies." The current POTUS is a toxic mix of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Putin, Kim Jong Il, Viktor Orban (Hungary) and Nayib Bukele (El Salvador) all wrapped into one vile package. And here we are.
👏👏 BRAVO, SIR !
Recognizing again the futility of it...
In case you think Trump is the duly elected President of the U.S. He is not.
Europeans know what Putin is capable of, while Americans have had their awareness of Russian interference totally expunged and erased by the media moguls and the right wing propaganda machine, both apparently actively or passively subservient to Putin's agenda.
But European countries have been actively monitoring and fighting off Putin's (and possibly others') efforts to rig and hack their democratic elections.
The 2016 Mueller Investigation, and its extensive findings regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election, have been purged from the MSM, as well as any consideration of how Russia most certainly repeated their U.S. election interference and hacking in 2024. Not one word from the U.S. MSM regarding the HUGE possibility that the 2024 election was rigged, by various means, including hacking, cyber invasion, bomb threats, bribery, threats to and coercion of local elections officials.
Just because Trump falsely accused Democrats of election interference in 2020, doesn't mean it can't be done. It can.
Musk publicly claimed he won the 2024 election for Trump.
It most certainly wasn't just vote buying. The MSM failed miserably to do any due diligence whatsoever to investigate exactly what Musk did and how he did it. And who else was involved. Especially in the swing states.
How can we combat his methods when we don't know what they are? When nobody in our media is asking the right questions? When the entire MSM is supine in the face of glaring irregularities in the swing states?
He (and others) will do it again. He thinks we are submissive and ignorant fools.
And remember, above anything else, that every Trump accusation is an admission.
americans are idiots....NOW can we build more schools ?
And there are people who would still vote for him! Unbelievable!
Even before the current Trump administration, there was a strong, compelling case for reform of the supreme court based on the shady financial dealings of certain justices, the court's refusal to adopt meaningful and enforceable ethics standards, and it's unprecedented disregard for facts in its rulings and its willingness to utterly disregard precedent and settled law.
Since Trump 2.0, the court hasn't even bothered to hear most cases brought against the administration, instead relying on what is supposed to be an 'emergency' docket, in which the court has sided with Trump in over 90% of cases, often trampling on lengthy, well-reasoned, and legally supported rulings against the administration.
There was already a sturdy case for supreme court reform even before Trump took office again. Now that case is a five-alarm fire. The court should be expanded to 13 members, term limits should be put in place, mandatory ethics and financial disclosures - with hefty, enforceable penalties - enacted, rules on recusals should be mandated, and the emergency docket should be severely limited by congress. This is no longer a question of 'if' the court needs reform, it's a matter of fact.
Jane, well said.
Thanks, Cathy. Very kind.
You knocked it out of the park with this piece, Jen. A clearer picture of Trump's legal skulduggery seems impossible. (The "enemies list" is chilling. Patel asserts that the list is only partial. He has missed millions of us.)
Thank you, Contrarians, for all you do to stop the slide into the pit of authoritarianism.
An excellent summary of our jeopardy and a thumbs up to our oath-keeping judiciary (which obviously excludes the Extreme Court 6).
Your observations and conclusions are spot on and support the adage that a fish rots from the head down.
A review of the lower court and even appellate court rulings reveal that most of the judges display noble intentions in applying the law and judicial precedents to the facts and rendering a fair and non-partisan decision.
However, when these decisions percolate up to our highest court in the land, they are sucked into a cesspool of judges, 6 of whom are hell-bent on directing their law clerks to ferret out laws and decisions that can be twisted out of all proportion to support their pre-conceived hard right-wing ideologies to rubber stamp the visceral actions taken by our megalomaniac in the White House.
We are truly looking at "corruption in the palace of justice".
Look no further than Mitch McConnell, who orchestrated the sly imprimatur of " cesspool of judges 6 to tip.the butchers,'thumb on the scales of injustice for trump and his " puppeteers ....Project 25 's ( years in the planning !) billionaire buddies to begin their fascist take over of this beloved land where freedom, the rule of law once reigned so proudly...and yes...innocently. Sadly, it appears,...we were not prepared to recognize and meet the onslaught that was to come.
I totally agree Lynn.
I'm beginning to wonder what dirt he might have uncovered on the Justices. After all, that was his mentor Roy Cohn's modus operandi: find dirt and use it to silence opposition and gain cooperation. That and outright bribery.
A lot of the dirt has already spilled out. Just look at all the money, gifts and travel lavished upon Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by his billionaire so-called "friends" whose wife openly works for an ultra right-wing conservative think tank. Don't you think that Trump would have excoriated him for taking these "gratuities" and "hospitalities" had Thomas ruled against Trump?
The Supreme Court has put itself up for sale and has been turned into a cesspool.
Trump obviously doesn’t see taking money and gifts as dirt, but as doing things the right way as demonstrated by Trump himself. Why would he excoriate someone who does what he does? He would applaud him.
Yes, we do know about some of the dirt. But I wonder if any of them were recipients of "gifts" from Epstein?
Now that's an interesting question?
Good piece, Jen. I'm a retired doc, not a lawyer. You have suggested limiting the SCOTUS 'appellate jurisdiction' more than once. Could you at some point go into detail on this?
I'm not a lawyer but the Constitution spells out a few specific cases (like suits between states) where the SCOTUS has original jurisdiction. For everything else, the Court has jurisdiction when the Congress says it does. So I guess that if a bill passes that says the SCOTUS has no appellate jurisdiction regarding this law, then the Court is taken out of the picture (assuming the President signs the passed bill or Congress overrides the President's veto.
This could be a case of "be careful what you ask for" because without a single national determination, it's easy to see different circuit courts, or even state courts, reaching different judgements with no single resolution, which would be a chaotic situation indeed. But it still may well be better than having the 6 SCROTUS Nazis running the country.
When they took up the Trump v US case instead of allowing the DC circuit’s lengthy and well reasoned ruling to stand, which would have set the stage for a J6 trial before the election, then sat on it for months, hiding the sordid truth from the public, then issued their decision “for the ages”…they ended Constitutional governance. I don’t know how we will ever get it back.
President Pinocchio may take judges for fools--as he does all who cave to his bullying and threats. But judges have the power to show themselves to be fools, or not. So far most federal judges--with the exception of the SC majority, have shown themselves to be immune to this president's insanity and to be anything but his fools.
I agree the rush to reform is the wrong approach. No matter what institution you consider, those authorized to act on behalf of the people and constitution must do their job. Changing the job description or rules will not change those who are derelict in their job and remiss in their authority. The Court needs justices who respect, defend and protect the law above the man.
This court named itself an imperial court when it decided the laws do not apply to the man heading the executive branch. That imperial disruption of the balance of power has allowed disregard for the acts and wishes of congress, the careful interpretation of the law by lower court, and the right of the individual to be protected by civil law while the courts make determinations.
The Supreme Court is not acting alone though. Republicans in Congress approved Trump’s choices to lead government agencies. These people are now driving the lawlessness supported by the SC.
Remember that some Democratic Senators also voted for some of the Cabinet nominees.
Yes, notably Fetterman of PA and Shaheen of New Hampshire voted for half of his nominees. No Democrats voted for Vought, Hegseth and Kennedy. Almost all of them voted for Rubio. Here’s the official record:
https://ballotpedia.org/How_senators_voted_on_Trump_Cabinet_nominees,_2025
I think they voted for Rubio because he was a former colleague and seemingly non-maga so they did it in a gesture of good faith that they weren't simply obstructionist and he could be a "normal" adult in the room. Rubio of course turned out to have zero character or integrity.
I agree dereliction is widespread.
Because, as Robert Hubble points out, the media are not highlighting all of these abnormal behaviors, or, as Jake Tapper characterizes them, personality quirks of the president, many people are totally unaware of how dire the risk to our democracy is.
Pam, I'm so glad you mentioned Jake Tapper. There was a time when he was a hard-nosed, fire in the belly, no BS guy who abruptly ended a Sunday interview with the vile Herr Stephen Miller during the early days of T1.0. Now, he seems to have lost all credibility and has been transformed into a milquetoast hack.
Great post! Court reform is definitely needed!
Thank you for explaining the importance of the work by the lower courts and for reminding the MAGA Supreme Court of their responsibility which will soon be lost if they continue on their current decision path.
Agreed and agreed and agreed. IMHO two of the most weighty reasons the MAGA majority in the Supreme Court refuse to tether their decisions to the facts under the law are that some of them at least are receiving substantial financial benefit (aka influence money) to support the Tax Break for the Wealthy President in his illegal actions and that many of them are convinced ideologues at a level that's made them lose touch with a broader reality. I don't think this will change until we change it by expanding the court or impeaching a couple of the worst justices. (Hard to choose, there.) When the abject Republicans in Congress are voted out of office (sooner and later) they will be very busy turning things around.
In the long run the maggots on the court are working hard to make it irrelevant. Once trump decides to ignore a ruling, the gates are open for all to do the same. They have and they will.