President Donald Trump has been back in the White House less than three weeks, and his executive orders have already inspired a long list of lawsuits.
In an article published by The Nation on February 7, progressive legal expert Elie Mystal applauds these "good faith" lawsuits against Trump orders that are "illegal and unconstitutional, and brazenly so." But Mystal, a frequent guest on MSNBC, emphasizes that "the courts alone will not save us" and lays out some reasons why.
"They will not be the backstop protecting us from the Trump-(Elon) Musk takeover," Mystal argues, "and any person who tells you otherwise — especially if that person is an elected Democrat in Congress — is selling you an excuse for inaction and complacency. Trump and Musk are barbarians at the gate; calling in the lawyers to tell them they're trespassing isn’t going to halt their advance."
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The attorney adds, "Courts are not known for their harm prevention — they're best used when trying to hold someone accountable for the harm they already caused."
Courts, Mystal notes, are "designed to move slowly" — whereas Trump, with his executive orders, is moving rapidly with his far-right agenda.
"The Trump Administration has already been hit with TROs (temporary restraining orders) over a number of its illegal and insane executive orders — including its unconstitutional revision of the 14th Amendment to end birthright citizenship, its illegal funding freeze on money already appropriated by Congress, and its immoral and dangerous prisoner transfer of trans-women to male prisons," Mystal explains. "In theory, these orders should be effective stopgaps. The problem is that the court has no enforcement mechanism. It has no army, no police force, no power to impose its will. Instead, the executive — in this case, the president — is supposed to enforce the court's orders. But what if Trump doesn't?"
Mystal adds, "There is little reason to believe that Trump will enforce an adverse court ruling against himself."
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The attorney argues that Democrats "who think the courts will save us" are forgetting how many "Federalist Society judges" are part of the federal judiciary — and how far to the right the U.S. Supreme Court has moved with "Chief Justice John Roberts and his crew of legal arsonists."
"A court order cannot enforce itself," Mystal warns. "It cannot change a mind. It cannot make white folks less racist. It cannot recapture things that have been lost, or stolen. The only thing that can save us is us."
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Elie Mystal's full article for The Nation is available at this link.