The Cracks in America's Rule of Law Are Getting Deeper

Court battles over the administration’s sweeping use of executive power are exposing limits on how much judges can constrain the presidency.

US District Judge Myong Joun needed 88 pages to lay out his conclusions on two lawsuits accusing President Donald Trump of violating federal law by trying to shut down the Department of Education. Over the course of 30,000 words, the Boston-based judge said the administration’s plans, including the firing of 1,378 workers, would leave the agency unable to fulfill the functions Congress required when it created the department in 1979.

“The record abundantly reveals that defendants’ true intention is to effectively dismantle the department without an authorizing statute,” the 2023 Joe Biden appointee wrote.

Joun’s May 22 decision was temporary, designed to keep the department intact and adequately staffed until courts could issue a definitive ruling. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals backed him: It refused to lift the order, touting Joun’s “detailed and extensive factual findings” and saying that firing so many workers even temporarily risked irreparable harm to programs the department administers.

Then the Supreme Court stepped in. In a one-paragraph order, the court put Joun’s decision on hold, letting the department oust the workers and shift responsibilities to other agencies during what will be at least a months-long legal fight. As is often the case with so-called emergency orders, the high court’s conservative majority gave no reasoning, saying nothing about Joun’s factual findings or legal conclusions — or the 3-0 appeals court decision that backed him up.

It’s a recurring pattern in Trump’s second term: On more than a dozen occasions, the Supreme Court has lifted an injunction issued by a trial judge who said the administration was at least probably acting illegally. The court has sometimes offered a few sentences on what the lower court got wrong — but not always. The decisions are part of the litigation blizzard spawned by Trump’s unprecedented use of executive actions to try to unilaterally reshape the law.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-29/trump-s-executive-orders-are-exposing-the-fragility-of-us-rule-of-law?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc1NjU2OTk4NCwiZXhwIjoxNzU3MTc0Nzg0LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUMVIyR1BHUTdMTzkwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNjgyQTUwQzJCRDM0MTFCQTgwQjEwQjZEQjczQzM1MSJ9.Xwvc20W6aJMt8RqrIWnzPcZ_brnt0usgzSP9gLfS8RI