As of June 28, 2025
Benchmarks of Democratic Backsliding and Erosion
It was a bad week for Supremes. Both Iran and our Supreme Court capitulated in all but name to Trump.
With an absent Congress, a crippled civil and foreign service, an executive branch stuffed with Trump’s willing destroyers, and a military increasingly politicized, the last bastion of non-violent resistance to Trump’s autocratic dictates was crippled by the Supreme Court. The Court ruled 6 to 3 that ‘universal injunctions’ were not permitted to be issued by lower federal courts any longer. The one tool to stop Trump in his tracks, the lower courts, was crippled by the high court. This will make stopping Trump’s barrage of illegal and unconstitutional executive orders much more difficult, perhaps fatally so.
Justice Barrett argued in the Court’s opinion that the Federal Judicial Act of 1789 did not authorize such nationwide injunctions, that “complete relief’ is not synonymous with “universal relief.” Hmmm, complete means ‘total’ and universal means ‘all.’ Pretty damn close to me, but I digress. Nor did English Common law permit such injunctions in Great Britian in the late 18th century at the time of our founding, she pointed out. Thank God we are using 18th century jurisprudence in a 21st century era of mass communication. She acknowledged, however, that universal injunctions were first used in 1962. A 63 year old precedent that she then set aside with a swish of her judicial pen. She concluded her opinion, “When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too.” Naïve and judicially dangerous.
The timing of this ruling is suspect. After 63 years of ignoring or permitting universal injunctions, the Supreme decided now, with Trump as president, to slam shut that door. One would think that after 63 years, lower court universal injections would become part of our common law heritage. Why not do this when Biden was president and numerous universal injunctions were issued against executive orders for student loan relief? This ruling follows a broader pattern of the high court being, in my opinion, overly deferential to Trump and his notion of a powerful executive branch. This ruling in conjunction with a previous Roberts’ ruling that Trump has immunity from criminal acts for official acts, basically makes Trump an autocrat in waiting. And he won’t wait long.
Now what Amy? What happens if Trump declares that Brown v. Board of Education was wrongly decided and issues an executive order segregating federal government offices and military academies (and those business or entities with federal contracts or funding by race)? Are we to wait six months to a year for the court cases to meander their way to the Supreme Court while government offices around the nation put up ‘white only’ signs? When an executive order is so patently unconstitutional? Legal brains but no common sense.
I can imagine the screams if a Democrat president through executive order immediately bans the manufacture, sale, and distribution of AR-15 type weapons, high-capacity magazines, ammunition, bump stocks, and other weapons deemed to be military grade. No universal injunction, just a patch work of local injunctions. The right would have a meltdown.
This ban on universal injunctions invites the executive branch to rewrite the Constitution at will, overturn Supreme Court decisions at will, overwhelming and inundating the lower federal courts to the point they cease to function effectively. It will become a shit show of unintended consequences, further fracturing and dividing this country. The Supreme Court surrendered the judicial branch to the executive branch, or as Trump would say, “unconditional surrender.”
In total, his ruling will create a nation universally splintered by different rulings and thereby laws. Uncertainty would reign supreme for nationwide businesses: can’t do that in California, but legal in Texas. As for the issue of birthright citizenship, after Barretts’ 30-day delay, some kids born in Texas won’t be US citizens, but if they were born in New York, would be. Tens of thousands of stateless kids. What a mess.
