Washington Monthly: “I’m a Law School Professor. Here’s What Keeps Me Up at Night”
Doomscrolling scenarios like a Trump third term won’t happen. But what if this administration defies court orders?
An excerpt from my Feb. 10th piece in the Washington Monthly:
“As a professor of voting rights and constitutional law, my phone has been ablaze in the past few weeks with texts from friends and family about the latest legal atrocity. “Will Trump try to run for a third term?” they ask. “Will we still have a Constitution?”
My typical response is that we should not indulge the president’s wild notions that keep us spinning our wheels.
. . .
But here’s what keeps me up at night: What if Trump, Elon Musk, or someone else in the Trump administration refuses to follow a court order? That’s the looming constitutional crisis. On Monday, a federal judge in Rhode Island determined that the Trump administration was not fully complying with its prior order to pause its funding freeze and demanded that the administration unfreeze funds.
What if the Trump administration simply ignores that order?
Already, there are signs that those in Trump’s orbit are setting the groundwork to undermine judicial decisions.
. . .
[T]he Trump administration is attacking the judiciary. Vice President JD Vance posted on X, “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” Of course, the very question is whether the executive’s actions are within its “legitimate power.” If not, then courts must step in to declare the orders unlawful. Vance also retweeted conservative Harvard Law Professor Adrian Vermeule, who posted, “Judicial interference with legitimate acts of state, especially the internal functioning of a co-equal branch, is a violation of the separation of powers.”
. . .
The statements from Vance and his allies may be political posturing. Vance did not, after all, outright call for a refusal to follow court orders. But the implications of his posts are concerning enough that they demand a strong rebuke—especially from Republicans. Pro-democracy Republicans must emphasize to the Trump administration that it’s still bound by the law.
. . .
The American experiment—declaring independence from the king and creating a government with co-equal branches that balance and check each other—will not work if the executive branch ignores judicial mandates. Refusing to comply is itself lawlessness.”