"As the tumultuous first year of Donald Trump's second term as president approaches its end, it's difficult to assess his successes and his failures. For one thing, his governing strategy has been all but unprecedented. Most presidents who have just won an election are forced to choose whether they want to cash in their political chips to get big things done or build up political capital for future elections."
"This involves temporary rulings on emergency petitions, sometimes from the administration as it seeks relief from lower-court judges who have thwarted Trump's high-speed agenda, and sometimes from Trump opponents who are trying to slow down the locomotive of unparalleled executive actions. So the state of play on any given issue depends on the interplay of both temporary and regular Supreme Court decisions with the implications of "shadow docket" rulings often clouded by terse orders with no explanation of the legal reasoning."
Donald Trump's second term pursued an audacious policy agenda and major expansions of presidential power while pursuing gerrymandering and voting-rule changes to influence future elections. Nearly all of the administration's power grabs drew legal challenges, leaving much unresolved and moving through the federal courts toward a Supreme Court shaped by Trump appointees. The Supreme Court has increasingly relied on a shadow docket of temporary emergency rulings that often offer terse orders without explained reasoning, producing uncertainty. The legal landscape depends on the interplay between temporary emergency orders and regular merits decisions. Early 2025 litigation centers on assertions of presidential authority over matters normally assigned to Congress, the courts, or independent agencies.
Read at Intelligencer
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