Law vs. chaos: How Americans can resist Trump's power grab
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Meanwhile, Trump's Justice Department is conducting a
Get The Gavel
A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr.
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It's cruel. It's grim. It's demoralizing and infuriating.
But it's also unconstitutional and illegal.
I've heard from readers who ask if that even matters anymore. Can't Trump and those aiding in his tyrannical actions simply ignore Congress and the courts if they try to serve as a check on his blatant attempt to expand his authority far beyond the bounds of the Constitution?
The answer is, not if 'We, the People' say he can't.
Some of the administration's lawless actions have been brushed back by court rulings. An attempt to unlawfully impound funding appropriated by Congress was temporary
A plethora of other legal challenges have been filed. But it's important to remember that they did not appear out of the ether. They were brought by people: members of the federal workforce, labor organizations, activists, doctors, retirees, state officials acting on behalf of citizens, and many more. These are people who give our government and its laws force and authority, not Trump and certainly not Musk. There is a reason why the first three words of our Constitution are 'We, the People.'
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The bases of these legal challenges are myriad and at times esoteric, but they are still important in understanding just how out of bounds the administration has been acting — and how groundbreaking the pushback has been.
Let's start with the Constitution itself, because that's where a blockbuster class action suit brought by
'Plaintiffs reasonably fear that all of parts of this list might be published by allies of President Trump, thus placing themselves and their families in immediate danger of retribution by now pardoned and at-large Jan. 6 convicted felons,' the
Other lawsuits, including those brought by
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That law empowers courts to strike down agency actions that are done in an arbitrary or capricious manner, and done contrary to law. Describing the actions of Trump and Musk as arbitrary, capricious, and lawless is an understatement.
These are just a few of the flurry of legal actions underway. I know they can be just as dizzying and difficult to understand as Trump's actions. But it's important to know that the power of our laws not come from the paper that a court ruling is written on. It's from you, me, and everyone who stands up and demands that those words have effect. And that is what is happening. It may be a slow, painful, and imperfect process. But it has been one that has helped our nation function for nearly 250 years.
So, does the law matter?
Yes, if We, the People, say it does. And so we say.
This is an excerpt from
, a newsletter about the Supreme Court from columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr.
Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a columnist for the Globe. She may be reached at
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