'Doomsday scenario': Here’s what would happen if Trump defies the Supreme Court

As President Donald Trump signs a flurry of executive orders with tacit congressional approval, some are looking to the court system to hold him in check. But what happens if he goes against the Supreme Court? A former Defense Department special counsel told CNN on Friday that this would spell disaster.

“That is the doomsday scenario,” Ryan Goodman, a former Defense Department special counsel and NYU law professor, told CNN. “So far, they are complying with all the court orders, but what happens come the day that they do lose at the Supreme Court?” Goodman asked.

Although the Justice Department is led by Trump loyalist Pam Bondi, the court could still be a backstop for Trump directives. Federal judges have pushed back on Trump regarding birthright citizenship and a buyout offered to federal employees. Two labor groups have sued Trump over his attempt to shut down USAID.

READ MORE: Don’t count on the Supreme Court to stop Trump’s new order — or uphold the Constitution

“Trump and his team have every reason to recognize Justices Kavanaugh, [Amy Coney] Barrett, and even [Neil] Gorsuch as Trump appointees but not necessarily ‘Trump justices,” Simon Lazarus, who was associate director of President Jimmy Carter’s White House Domestic Policy Staff, explains in the New Republic. “On the contrary, they and the court they control could well constitute a uniquely critical threat to their agenda of consolidating all federal power in the president’s hands. Already, the first federal branch, Congress, has acquiesced in its own marginalization.”

Some are optimistic. “The courts, if they interpret the Constitution correctly, are going to stop Musk, are going to stop Trump,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told CNN on Thursday.

So it’s not inconceivable that Trump would have the opportunity to go against a ruling from the top court. "Three weeks in, the growing storm of lawsuits means some of this young administration’s most extraordinary applications of unilateral presidential power could be reined in. But the litigation also conjures a scenario that no one wants to think about: what would happen if the administration refused to recognize court rulings — even one handed down by the Supreme Court?" writes CNN's Stephen Collinson.

“If they really want to push it, we are in a real constitutional crisis,” Goodman said.

READ MORE: ‘Stakes really couldn’t be higher’ as ‘tumultuous moment’ heads for the Supreme Court