The decision itself actually does instruct the district court to “ensure that the Government lives up to its obligations to follow the law.” But the Supreme Court actually can’t instruct them to bring everyone back. All they can do is rule on the specific case they have in front of them.
Now, it’s anybody’s guess whether anything will actually come of this. Is SCOTUS willing to hold the Trump DOJ in contempt? I don’t know. They’re running on pretty thin ice before the entire judicial community, and while Kavanaugh and Thomas probably wouldn’t ever go for it, some of the more “constitutionalist” justices can probably see their own legitimacy and authority evaporating in front of them as the Trump administration continues to ignore court orders, and might well act.
Would that do anything? Good question. For 236 years, the Supreme Court has worked on the assumption that everyone will abide by their decision, but their actual enforcement ability is pretty limited. Infamously (and potentially legendarily) Andrew Jackson said, “[Chief Justice John] Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!” before ignoring the ruling (a pro-Indian decision) entirely. But in today’s world, blatantly ignoring a Supreme Court decision could very well be the first tug of the thread that unravels the already-thin cover of legitimacy on Federal power.
Would we then become a military state, governed exclusively by whoever controls (a bulk of) our armed forces? Would Congress finally act? Would something else happen to break the deadlock? There’s just no way of knowing.
At its core, all political power is illusion. All of the rules are constructs. We made them all up so that our society would function better. If people who are insulated from that society decide that they don’t care about its function, they ignore the rules; at which point everyone else starts to ignore them, too.
So defying the Supreme Court would be a step toward anarchy. I don’t doubt that Trump would be okay with that. But some of the people around him might recognize that he’d be cutting off the branch he’s standing on if he did.
The decision itself actually does instruct the district court to “ensure that the Government lives up to its obligations to follow the law.” But the Supreme Court actually can’t instruct them to bring everyone back. All they can do is rule on the specific case they have in front of them.
Now, it’s anybody’s guess whether anything will actually come of this. Is SCOTUS willing to hold the Trump DOJ in contempt? I don’t know. They’re running on pretty thin ice before the entire judicial community, and while Kavanaugh and Thomas probably wouldn’t ever go for it, some of the more “constitutionalist” justices can probably see their own legitimacy and authority evaporating in front of them as the Trump administration continues to ignore court orders, and might well act.
Would that do anything? Good question. For 236 years, the Supreme Court has worked on the assumption that everyone will abide by their decision, but their actual enforcement ability is pretty limited. Infamously (and potentially legendarily) Andrew Jackson said, “[Chief Justice John] Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!” before ignoring the ruling (a pro-Indian decision) entirely. But in today’s world, blatantly ignoring a Supreme Court decision could very well be the first tug of the thread that unravels the already-thin cover of legitimacy on Federal power.
Would we then become a military state, governed exclusively by whoever controls (a bulk of) our armed forces? Would Congress finally act? Would something else happen to break the deadlock? There’s just no way of knowing.
At its core, all political power is illusion. All of the rules are constructs. We made them all up so that our society would function better. If people who are insulated from that society decide that they don’t care about its function, they ignore the rules; at which point everyone else starts to ignore them, too.
So defying the Supreme Court would be a step toward anarchy. I don’t doubt that Trump would be okay with that. But some of the people around him might recognize that he’d be cutting off the branch he’s standing on if he did.