30th June 2025
Now the federal government does not have to comply with certain irksome court orders because the federal courts can no longer make them
This week I will be looking closely at what seems at a highly significant judgment of the United States Supreme Court. It is 119 pages and you can read it here.
At first glance it seems that while onlookers were (mis)directed into worrying about what happens if the Trump administration ignores court orders, the conservative majority on the US Supreme Court, with more subtlety and artistry, has now robbed federal judges from making many of the most unwelcome court orders in first place.
If so, the problem of the federal government disobeying many irksome court orders in large part goes away, because federal judges cannot now even make the most effective court orders!
Such a judgment does not require just a hot-take, but a considered view. I will post more shortly.
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A sorry spectacle is unfolding. Look forward to your review.
There’s a really interesting piece of analysis that has recently been published by Adam Bonica, a Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, which you can find here:
https://data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-supreme-courts-blitzkrieg-against?triedRedirect=true
As he notes, “Federal district courts have ruled against the Trump administration 94% of the time. The Supreme Court has sided with the Trump administration 94% of the time. A judiciary at war with itself.”
I think I agree with all but the last sentence.
With the formation of the supermajority, the Supreme Court of the United States ceased to be an impartial arbiter. Chief Justice Roberts likes to make a big noise about the role of SCotUS being simply to “call balls and strikes”… but the truth is that since it became a 6-3 majority for Republican appointees, a whole raft of legal precendents – which the recent appointments such as Kavanaugh and Comey-Barrett both claimed in their confirmation hearings were “settled law” – have been over-turned. There is literally no end in sight.
The United States no longer seems to be behaving like a democracy. It might not be a full dictatorship as some alarmists have suggested, but it is most definitely a kritocracy, with all true power held by six unelected individuals.
Need to read on full. From the headnote it sounds not dissimilar to the debate and jurisprudence about contra mundum injunctions in the protest/trespass sphere here in England/Wales. Perhaps.
In simple language how can District judges have the authority over the whole country? They are ‘District’ judges to hear cases in their District. It just doesn’t make any sense that 5 judges in Maryland can stop orders for the whole country. I do believe they could write opinions to the Supreme Court citing president and constitutional case law. But stopping Executive Orders doesn’t make sense. That decision should be congressional with Temporary Universal Injunctions only viable through the Supreme Court. Tempory Injunctions only in their district from EOs is a question of logistics. This issue should not be looked at as anything to do with the current president but all presidents.