Heidi Li FeldmanA friend asked my opinion on an op-ed in the New York Times today, written by a scholar whose work was much cited by the majority in Friday’s birthright citizenship case. I’m not naming the scholar or linking to the op-ed because, as I told my friend, I think the scholar is disingenuous - his defense of the opinion cannot be taken seriously. All this just by way of background …. 1/
My friend commented that for nonlawyers it is hard to really grasp what this term’s Supreme Court decisions mean. I told him that this is definitely intentional by the Court, in my opinion. The current Supreme Court rolls just like the President they are rushing to empower, through a combination of blitz and stealth. 2/
The blitz is the wave upon wave of dreadful opinions on the merits. The stealth is in the shadow docket rulings. The combined goal, just as with Trump’s EOs and secretive military moves, is to consolidate anti-constitutional, authoritarian power in the hands of the right. The current Supreme Court is not engaged in adjudication as that practice works in a pluralistic constitutional. democracy. It is simply another arm of a dictatorial takeover of the U.S. federal government. 3/
So why should a legal scholar or lawyer-activist ever bother explaining what the Supreme Court is doing? It certainly isn’t to evaluate the merits of the Court’s work as adjudication. They are not adjudicating so it isn’t coherent to say that their adjudication is bad qua adjudication. They are dictating and they are dictating ethically horrible and existentially dangerous outcomes. 4/
We lawyers who believe in pluralistic constitutional democracy and rule of law have an imperative obligation to do as much explaining as we possibly can about what is going on in this country, especially with the Supreme Court. 5/
We might be able to rouse and bolster opposition to the rise of a fascist authoritarian federal government in the U.S. At least we can create a real time record of what Republican Fascists are doing via the Trump executive, the Republican controlled Congress, and a Supreme Court that is in the tank for Trump, theocracy, and dictatorship. 6/
Dan BornsteinAny serious discussion of current Supreme Court opinions must start from the recognition that Court is lawless. It is as if high energy physicists starting conducting their work according to astrology without being honest about the shift. This wouldn’t be bad physics; it wouldn’t be physics at all. But they might be able to bamboozle non-physicists. So honest physicists of integrity would have to keep exposing the sham. 7/
Of course, if, like me, you think law and adjudication play a constitutive role in an actual pluralistic constitutional democracy and you believe members of a polity have obligations to one another to fight for this form of government, you will feel a moral and political imperative to expose a sham Supreme Court that might be different than what we would expect of my hypothetical physicists of integrity. But, I digress. 8/
The real conclusion of this thread: it is no wonder that these days it feels as if there is a constant siren blaring in my head. That siren is a response to what Republican Fascists are doing in every branch of U.S. government and it is a goad to do all I can to alert as many people as I can to the aspects that I have some expertise in. 9/9
Havyhh2@heidilifeldman ...you are right to raise alarm....loudly and often. Our system of gov't relies on 3 branches to be run by diligent, true, responsible Americans. But all 3 now poisoned by MAGA fascism. The SC has been complicit for a while....lunacy of Presidential immunity "out of thin air" ruling was clarion-call of its corruption, & downhill since. They're illegitimate & MAGA Congress members complicit....POTUS leads coup, like 4 yrs ago. Unsuccessfully. Today is different.
PoloniousmonkI recently read something laying this era at the feet of Bush v. Gore. I don't think we're entirely wrong there. I remember that was a totally lawless decision to give the presidency to the guy who lost the election, and the vast majority of the public snored. It's not like elections matter, right?
AmgineAs always: thank you for saying the quiet part out loud.
AI6YR Ben@heidilifeldman Thanks for helping those of us understand what 's going on better; as a non-lawyer it's extremely useful to understand what exactly is and isn't normal, and how to better interpret the hug mess we are in. Thanks.
chapulin@heidilifeldman thank you for keeping us informed. Your posts have been very helpful with understanding our new reality.
mossyruaIt’s a coup. Plain and simple.
Nicole ParsonsIt's a coup that has the funding & support of the richest people on the planet.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/americans-rich
American democracy is owned by the 1%.
https://www.propublica.org/article/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-leo-supreme-court-supermajority
https://www.wsj.com/business/media/leonard-leo-trump-2cd729c8
The US Supreme Court is owned by the 1%
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/05/billionaires-funding-republicans
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/18/magazine/trump-donors-silicon-valley.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/leokamin/2024/08/14/here-are-trumps-top-billionaire-donors/
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/16/politics/fundraising-takeaways-elon-musk-billionaires-trump
isotope239 🥸💻🇺🇦😣@heidilifeldman Which I appreciate greatly. Your clear and concise translations of the legalese are crucial to my informed understanding of what is happening. Thank you.
SueDiOh@heidilifeldman I appreciate all of the explaining you and other legal scholars do on social media to educate the rest of us. And I know many legal entities are fighting this takeover. But I see that some of these cases filed by the far-right have been making their way thru the legal system for years in order to reach SCOTUS, and I always wonder why Dems haven't had the foresight to do the same?
bluGill
Chris@heidilifeldman thank you
👁Pooka🫣Boo🫵@heidilifeldman The "conservatives" on SCOTUS are neither conservative nor principled. They are reactionaries. Their ideology is to worship at the feet of christo-fascism; and, force others to do the same!
Elizabeth Alcinoe@heidilifeldman Our country is the Constitution. When the supreme court goes against it, it is treasonous.
Karl Auerbach@heidilifeldman Good thread. Thanks! I encourage everyone to read it to the end.
Eric Schultz@heidilifeldman lawless is too weak. They're treasonous. Enemies to the Constitution.
Chuck@heidilifeldman I particularly like the physicists analogy because it is so spot on. I have never found my self reading documents produced by SCOTUS and exclaimed WTAF so many times. Thank you for your patient explanations, I forward them from time to time to my other lay friends who are just as confused as the rest of us why they are doing this stuff.
Ralf Stubner@heidilifeldman Thanks for that analogy!
Matt Chambers@heidilifeldman As a former lawyer, I agree that the Court is now lawless. I don't know how one practices law these days, given the insanity spewed out by this Court.
Edelruth, PBS Passport Holder
RD"It isn't law at all."
Sure it is. Law is whatever those in power say it is. That is nothing new; law has never been anything like an objective science, or a preexisting reality that we seek to discover and accurately describe. It really is more like astrology.
This essay from 2018 is amazingly relevant today, almost prophetic:
Take Your Pick: Law or Freedom
https://crimethinc.com/2018/11/09/take-your-pick-law-or-freedom-how-nobody-is-above-the-law-abets-the-rise-of-tyranny
Colin from Edinburgh, Oklahoma@heidilifeldman
The US doesn't have a Justice System.
It has a Law Industry.
Michael Cervieri@heidilifeldman obligatory: "We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men" - George Orwell