This is written by Jay Michaelson a visiting professor priest at Harvard:
I’m posting in response to the many sincerely anguished claims that not enough is being done to stop Trump. This is not reflected in the facts.
– Represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group and State Democracy Defenders Fund, the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) filed suit on Monday against the Treasury Department “for sharing confidential data with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk.” Go to Public Citizen’s website to learn all about this lawsuit, which is very likely to prevail.
– On USAID, appearing with other Democratic lawmakers outside USAID offices on Monday, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) shouted, “Elon Musk, you didn’t create USAID. The United States Congress did for the American people … like Elon Musk did not create USAID, he doesn’t have the power to destroy it. And who’s going to stop him? We are… This a constitutional crisis that we are in today.” Lawsuits have also been filed in this matter, and are also likely to prevail.
– Hakeem Jeffries has announced lawsuits have been filed regarding the firings of inspectors general.
– On Jan 21, Democracy Forward, was filed at 12:01 p.m. ET on Monday and accused Elon Musk’s DOGE of being a “shadow operation led by unelected billionaires” that flouts federal transparency rules. That should win.
– National Security Counselors filed a suit arguing that DOGE meets the requirements to be a federal advisory committee and is therefore legally required to have “fairly balanced” representation, keep regular minutes of meetings and allow public access to meetings. Clearly accurate.
– Eighteen state attorneys general and a slew of immigrants’ rights groups brought swift legal action against Trump after he signed his executive order seeking to ban birthright citizenship for some children born in the U.S., arguing that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Obviously, clearly unconstitutional.
– “Schedule F” has been challenged in court by the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents employees in 37 agencies and departments.
– Several immigrant rights groups in the United States, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s ban on asylum claims.
– GLAD Law and the National Center For Lesbian Rights (NCLR) have sued to stop Trump’s ban on trans people in the military.
And there are many more
Yes, there are Trump judges in the courts, and if Aileen Cannon types get these cases, Trump may prevail. But most judges are not like her. These actions are clearly illegal and/or unconstitutional, and they WILL be stopped.
Whether Elon and Trump will abide by court orders remains to be seen. That’s the big test. But there is action on that front.
The big question hovering over all of this is what the Supremes will finally do. JV Last had a rather chilling thought on all that yesterday:
Under the current status quo, the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of the law in the American system. Trump will test this proposition. Take that to the bank.
At which point SCOTUS will have two options:
- Find against Trump and hope that Trump agrees to be bound by the Court’s opinion; or
- Let Trump have his way, even if it is blatantly unconstitutional—because they believe that Trump will defy their order and will get away with it, because no other power center in the government will be willing to enforce SCOTUS’s ruling.
Real talk: I’m not sure which of those pathways would be more prudent.
It depends on circumstance. How popular is Trump at the time of the ruling? Does the case concern a subject that has great salience for the public? What would the vote count be, 9–0? 5–4? Do Democrats control any branches of government?
Because here’s the thing: When we get to that final showdown, it’s for all the marbles. If Trump can successfully defy a SCOTUS order, then American democracy is over.
That’s enough to keep you awake tonight isn’t it? He thinks the Supremes should keep their powder dry and I couldn’t disagree more. They should vote 7-2 (Alito and Thomas are hopeless) against Trump, no question. I doubt it will go down that way, but that’s the best case scenario. We’re already so far down the rabbit hole that there’s no margin in being “prudent” for another day. It’s all on the line already.
