American Present

You may first wish to consider the following litigation developments:

 

• July 14, 2025 unsigned grant of stay by Supreme Court in McMahon v. New York of an injunction that had been upheld by the First Circuit Court of Appeals would have prevented the administration from dismantling the Education Department by firing more than a thousand workers, as well as a dissent by the three liberal justices. Cf. Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees ruled eight to one that the Trump administration could implement large-scale layoffs. I am still mystified by the position of Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, particularly after seeing actual plans for such layoffs implemented after the ruling. The following paragraph appears on page 2 of Justice Sotomayor’s dissent:
• When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it. Two lower courts rose to the occasion, preliminarily enjoining the mass firings while the litigation remains ongoing. Rather than maintain the status quo, however, this Court now intervenes, lifting the injunction and permitting the Government to proceed with dismantling the Department. That decision is indefensible. It hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out. The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave. Unable to join in this misuse of our emergency docket, I respectfully dissent.

 

• July 14. 2025 order of Court of Appeals for Fourth Circuit in CASA v. Noem staying the administration’s termination of temporary protected status for Afghans (the termination was based on the claim there was no need for such protected status, which strains any neutral observer’s credulity) until July 21, 2025.

 

• July 14, 2025 Complaint for Declaratory, Injunctive, And Mandamus Relief filed in the District Court of Rhode Island in California v. McMahon to stop the freeze of $6.8 billion in funds for education initiatives like summer programming and adult learning.  Again there is a reasonable summary of the obligation of the executive responsibility to spend money appropriated by Congress absent conditions not present.

 

You may also wish to consider two Slate July 14, 2024 columns about the legal system:

 

• Matthew Wollin’s column entitled, Trump’s DOJ Won’t Let Go of One of His Biggest Losers in Court. I Know Why. The reference is to the litigation against the law firms, each of which was lost (although we are awaiting the decision in national security denial of Mark Zaid, an attorney). The explanation is
• The Trump administration has a very different relationship with legal action than any previous administration. They do not seem to view legality, or effective administration of existing laws, to be a primary or even desirable goal. Rather, they seem to view state action primarily as a means of political advocacy, in which an ultimate loss—or a few constitutional violations—doesn’t really matter as long as those losses manage to move the conversation. (This is a lesson that Democrats could stand to learn from.) Appealing this decision plays exactly into this strategy, because it allows the Trump administration to keep threatening lawyers representing political opponents because they get to keep talking about it. [They also impose substantial costs on those contesting these illegal sanctions]

• Dahlia Lithwick’s column entitled, This Is the Most Inspiring Thing I’ve Heard About Democracy at the Supreme Court in Ages. Ms. Lithwick concludes her summary of the discussion with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse with the following paragraph
• I keep trying to figure out a path between hopelessness and hope. Here it is: We need to know what has happened and also what is happening. Remember that you can reverse engineer it and keep working to do so until it is done. And it can be done

 

You may wish to conclude with a relatively positive political outlook, namely the July 14, 2025 New York Magazine column by Ed Kilgore  entitled, Democrats Don’t Need Big Beautiful Calamity to Win the Midterms . There is a caveat at the end so if you want to continue to have concern, a reason is set forth.