Just in the last few days, courts have ruled that President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops In Los Angeles is illegal, that his aggressive use of tariffs is unconstitutional and that his administration must restore deleted health information to federal websites.
These are merely the most recent of numerous court decisions that have been handed down in the opening months of Trump’s second term, which put the brakes on his brash efforts to expropriate powers delegated to Congress and ignore constitutional rules. With the Republican-controlled House and Senate willingly acquiescing to anything Trump demands and the levers of the executive branch firmly in the control of Trump’s toadies and fanatics, the last bulwark against authoritarian rule is the judicial branch.
Judges form a thin black line protecting American democracy, but not always with the support of the conservative-dominated Supreme Court and often without the power to enforce their rulings. They may not stop the tilt toward a new fascism, but perhaps they can slow it down long enough for voters to come to the rescue in the 2026 midterm election — if that election is not rigged by gerrymandering Republican state legislatures by then.
In the end, the men and women in black robes may not be able to save us from the subversion of our democratic system, but their brave resolve to protect our constitutional order makes it oh so clear that the rule of law is the most vital safeguard of a free society.
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