Federal Courts Spending Less Time on Business, More on Politics

Trump’s increasing reliance on executive actions in the face of an intransigent congress means the federal courts have become the battleground for his agenda. Washington, D.C.-based Judge Trevor McFadden dismissed a lawsuit filed by House Democrats over attempts to divert military funds for a border wall, saying the lawmakers didn’t have the standing to challenge it in court because they had “several political arrows in their quiver” to use instead. But, he added, that “does not imply that Congress may never sue the Executive to protect its powers.” Stephen Burbank, a professor at Penn Law, said that judges should weigh both their independence and their accountability, but neither could be considered more important than the other. He cautioned that if people come to believe that judges and courts are merely agents who have a duty to carry out the policy agendas of those who selected them, “then the rule of law really is on its way out.” He criticized Trump’s own attacks on the judiciary. “He doesn’t understand American institutions of government, nor does he give a damn about them as far as I’m concerned,” he said. Trump’s defenders point to former President Obama’s condemnation of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling case as evidence that Trump didn’t invent politicization of the judiciary.