Democrats have railed against the conservative-dominated Supreme Court for nearly a decade but are now cheering on federal judges ruling against the Trump administration while Republicans fume.
“The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch, where district court judges in liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block President Trump’s basic executive authority,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “We believe these judges are acting as judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law.”
At least a dozen rulings have been handed down against President Donald Trump over the last two weeks, clipping his efforts to freeze federal funds, pore over the books at various agencies, and implement other parts of his sweeping agenda.
For the GOP, the phenomenon is an extension of the lawfare campaign waged against Trump during his campaign.
“Seventy-seven million Americans voted to elect this president, and each injunction is an abuse of the rule of law and an attempt to thwart the will of the people,” Leavitt added.
Elon Musk has called for anti-Trump judges to be impeached over their actions, and Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) followed through by introducing articles of impeachment against Paul Engelmayer, a New York-based Obama appointee who issued a restraining order preventing DOGE from accessing Treasury Department payment systems.
Other Republicans have joined in the effort, with Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham that “Congress must act.”
“We need laws that make Trump’s executive orders permanent,” he said. “We should be backing his agenda, not letting judges sabotage it.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) posted on X, “If judges can disrupt the political process without authority, and if Congress does nothing when that happens, our constitutional order will be badly weakened.”
Democrats, meanwhile, celebrate the rulings and charge that Trump is the one causing a constitutional crisis through his aggressive actions.
“The president of the United States cannot seize control of spending, nor can he eliminate departments,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said. “With every day, there comes a new challenge to the Constitution.”
It’s a sharp reversal from just a few months ago, when Democrats were complaining that unelected federal judges on the Supreme Court were usurping the will of the people and legislating from the bench.
Ever since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refused to fill the Supreme Court seat left open by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, ultimately leading to the confirmation of conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch the following year, the political Left has been in open revolt against the high court.
When the Supreme Court heard arguments in an abortion-related case in 2020, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued what appeared to be public threats against two justices.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, [Justice Brett] Kavanaugh,” he said. “You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
Democratic blowback against the court included a series of ethics investigations regarding right-leaning members Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, during which Senate Republicans walked out of a hearing that attempted to subpoena a conservative activist and donor.
But it was Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, who turned up the heat against the high court.
When the justices struck down his $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan, Biden moved forward anyway, saying explicitly that he was acting in defiance of the court.
“The Supreme Court tried to block me from relieving student debt. But they didn’t stop me,” he said last year. “I’ve relieved student debt for over 5 million Americans. I’m going to keep going.”
Using workarounds, Biden ultimately wrote off more than $183 billion in federal student loan debt despite the ruling.
Now, Democrats are hoping that Trump will not make a similar move, while Republicans, who cheered the student loans verdict, are looking to impeach federal judges.
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Trump says he will “always abide by the courts,” even while complaining that recent rulings “give crooked people more time to cover up the books.”
The court battles are likely to escalate in the coming months and the GOP hopes it will eventually emerge victorious if the cases reach the Supreme Court, at which point the tables may turn again.
