Supreme Court sets off 'alarm bells' that it's 'in the bag' for Trump: analyst
In a discussion about the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in the birthright citizenship case, legal analysts explained that the court's ruling should be setting off "alarm bells" about this court.
Speaking on MSNBC, host Ana Cabrera noted that there were numerous nationwide injunctions related to executive orders issued under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. She asked why now does the court decide to change these rules.
"I think that is part of what makes the court's decision to take this particular case so troubling," said the legal analyst and University of Michigan law professor, Leah Litman.
Litman recently penned the book "Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes," which specifically addresses issues like this about the High Court.
"The Biden administration was subject to a raft of nationwide universal injunctions for four years. They asked the Supreme Court to take up the propriety of nationwide injunctions in cases that probably were less appropriate for nationwide injunctions. Like a challenge to the particular rules for forgiving some student debt when you enroll in a university that is the subject of fraud."
But for the Trump administration, they were suddenly given a huge allowance just five months into the presidency.
"So, I have real doubts about whether the Republican justices on the court are going to apply this same rule to Democratic administrations," Litman added. "Or whether they instead are going to say something to the effect of, well, when a Republican-led state is challenging a policy of a Democratic president, we just so happen to conclude that in those cases, nationwide, injunctions are necessary to provide those states with relief."
Then she put down the hammer.
"I think the fact that this court has been so complicit in putting Donald Trump, in particular, above the law and basically eliminating ways to enforce the Constitution and federal law against him, should raise serious alarm bells about whether this court is kind of in the bag for Donald Trump and the Trump administration."