Trump’s Plan to Overturn the Constitution Hits Its First Roadblock

The keystone of conservative jurisprudence in the Trump era has largely boiled down to the fact that laws aren’t real and power is the true law of the land. Trump is not the first conservative president to pursue blatantly illegal actions, he’s just the most shameless, which was his Achilles heel in his first administration. Conservative hacks throughout the judiciary have long proven they are willing to disregard the law if it furthers conservative policy (see: the 2000 election), but not if it’s so blatantly obvious as to get them disinvited from the nice dinner parties in polite society that they like to attend, and Trump lost a lot of winnable court battles his first time around because his executive orders are sloppy and written by charlatans. Given the clear A.I. influence found in his most recent ones, that problem may have become worse.

Trump is functionally trying to overturn the 14th Amendment via executive fiat, ending the birthright citizenship guaranteed within it to those born in the United States to people who immigrated here. Over a dozen states sued Trump over this order, and Senior U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, agreed with them and blocked this move by Trump, issuing a temporary restraining order that will remain in effect for fourteen days as he considers a request by the states for a more permanent solution. “I’ve been on the bench for over four decades,” Coughenour said. “I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order. There are other times in world history where we look back and people of goodwill can say where were the judges, where were the lawyers?”

Trump said he will obviously appeal this rejection of his blatantly unconstitutional order in the hopes of getting it in front of a different judge who prioritizes the hatred and racism of the conservative movement over the constitution. Whether he will be able to do this is very much to be determined, but the strategy of the conservative movement in 2025 is crystal clear: Ronald Reagan appointees are too loyal to the rule of law, and for Trumpism to succeed, he will need judges who consciously violate the constitution so they can pledge fealty to their new dear leader.