Once 'unthinkable' scenario in second Trump term more likely than ever: law professor

Stephen Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, believes the likelihood of President-elect Donald Trump flat-out disobeying a ruling from the United States Supreme Court is stronger than ever.

Writing in the New York Times, Vladeck makes the case that the Supreme Court hits the brakes on proposed Trump policies more often than it's given credit for during his first term in office.

However, he believes that some of the court's unpopular rulings, most famously its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, have damaged the court's credibility and could embolden Trump to shrug off its directives.

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"Without that public support, what would happen if Mr. Trump simply ignored a decision by the nation’s highest court that he doesn’t like?" Vladeck asked. "It is a question that until now seemed largely thinkable."

Vladeck points to statements made by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance in recent years in which he said that Trump should ignore any court ruling that tries to inhibit his power and he cited the actions of former President Andrew Jackson as precedent.

Added to this, he argues that Trump is far less likely to care about any public blowback from defying Supreme Court orders now that he is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in office.

"Judicial power is fragile... the entire system is jeopardized when the courts lose their ability to stand up to the other institutions of government," Vladeck writes in conclusion. "That is why it is so essential for the justices to worry about the court’s public support even in calm times, for it’s when the rule of law is directly threatened that the court’s credibility and legitimacy becomes imperative."