While Democrats are dithering and debating with consultants about which anti-Trumpian strategy to adopt, courts are confronted with an unprecedented power grab by the president. Donald Trump and Elon Musk are simply not spending money appropriated by Congress, which in turn is unwilling to play its constitutional role and assert the power of the purse. Entire agencies are de facto dismantled – which is also unconstitutional – and civil servants protected from removal by a president keep getting pink slips.
The illegality of it all seems so obvious that one would think defenders of democracy could relax and trust judges to do the right thing. But it’s not just that some judges seem to be in the president’s pocket – as evidenced by Trump, after his address to Congress, patting the supreme court’s chief justice on the back and thanking him for a favor he won’t forget, mafia-style. It is also that some jurists have been itching to defend a further concentration of presidential power – John Roberts likely among them.
