The Blessed Firewall: How Federal Courts Are Standing Up to the Trump-Musk Regime

Welcome to month 3 of the Trump-Musk regime. 

Just like 8 years ago, Donald Trump used his term's early stages to test the bounds of the Constitution that he and his party claim to revere. Using executive orders that Republicans claim are an overreach only when a Democrat is president, Donald Trump quickly went to work to undo as much of the previous administration as possible. Through just over 2 months, Trump signed 93 executive orders, more than half the number that Joe Biden signed during his full four-year term. Many of these orders are massively unpopular even among Republicans which is why Trump has resorted to using them at record-high levels. While there was near-universal support of the GOP to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, there was a lot less uniformity of the party in pardoning over 1,500 domestic terrorists, many of whom violently attacked law officers on January 6th. Others still were simply red meat to his party's base such as executive orders to make English the official language, ending government DEI programs, keeping men out of women's sports, ending radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling, and eradicating anti-Christian bias.

But beyond these largely symbolic orders to pacify the base, others attempted to fundamentally alter who we are as a country. Among his initial batch of EOs were ones that tried to end birthright citizenship, abolish USAID, and remove transgender soldiers from the military. Taken together, it's clear that the administration's goal is to Make America White Again and end America's role in lifting up global communities out of poverty. Fortunately, EOs like these are being challenged. Less than three weeks after signing it, Trump's EO to ban birthright citizenship was blocked by a federal court. On March 18, a federal judge ruled that the USAID shutdown likely violated the constitution. And a mere hours later a second federal judge blocked Trump's transgender military ban. Trump and his cabal of criminals are quickly finding out that they are not all-powerful kings. Hence his recent outburst trying to impeach the judges, something that we all know cannot be done without overwhelming support from the United States Senate.

We are still a nation of laws despite what Republicans truly want. While they would welcome the chance to automatically push through these kinds of executive orders, the truth is we have a legal system where these orders can be challenged. Donald Trump wants to be king. So does Elon Musk whose DOGE office has recently been on the receiving end of a restraining order, preventing the department from further accessing Social Security Administration systems that contain personally identifiable information. Like Trump, Musk lashed out against the judge's ruling but the law doesn't care about one's feelings. It cares about legality, something that DOGE has shown zero concern about since its inception. With over two dozen current legal cases against DOGE, expect to see more Musk meltdowns as more and more federal courts rule against him and his rogue federal department.

There is much work to be done. People are losing their jobs. Immigrants are living in constant fear. Seniors and those on Medicaid are in the crosshairs of an administration that wants them to needlessly suffer. Funding for science and education and nonprofits are on the chopping block. Project 2025 is being unfurled right in front of our very eyes. But while we work on the day-to-day here on the ground, know that the courts thus far have had our back. Our centuries-old legal system is the only thing preventing a complete fascist takeover of our government. Watch them. Pay attention. And know that each court decision against this administration helps prevent this country from moving one step closer to an authoritarian state. 

Be thankful the courts and the rule of law still mean something.