Supreme Court Holds Line Against Trump's Power Grabs

David Cole, a prominent left-liberal Georgetown law professor and former National Director of the ACLU, recently published a qualified defense of the Supreme Court's recent rulings in the New York Review.

Cole emphasizes the crucial role these decisions played in constraining abuses of power by Trump, despite his own reservations about some of the court's actions. He notes that during the 2025-2026 term, the court blocked four of Trump's major initiatives: ending birthright citizenship, imposing worldwide tariffs, firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, and dispatching National Guard troops to cities.

The Court's decisions were not seen as token losses for Trump, but rather established important guardrails on the executive branch. For example, the tariffs decision rejected the president's assertion of emergency powers, a step courts rarely take.