How the Supreme Court could make Trump's 'parade of horribles' even more extreme

When the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its controversial presidential ruling in Trump v. the United States in 2024, the criticism came not only from liberals like Justice Sonia Sotomayor — who was downright scathing in her dissent — but also, from Never Trump conservatives such as attorney George Conway and MS NOW's Joe Scarborough.

Many Never Trumpers believes that the Roberts Court is giving way too much power to the federal government's executive branch and is undermining its judicial and legislative branches in the process. And they are joining liberals, progressives, and centrist Democrats in saying that Trump, under the U.S. Constitution, is an elected official — not a king.

Another outspoken Never Trump conservative is David French, a New York Times opinion columnist and frequent guest on MS NOW. In a conservation with the Times' Emily Bazelon published on December 11, French discussed Trump v. Slaughter — a case dealing with a president's ability to fire employees of independent government agencies. The "Slaughter" is Rebecca Slaughter, who Trump fired from her position as a commissioner for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

French told Bazelon, "I don't think you can analyze Slaughter without thinking of the Court's larger separation of powers jurisprudence, which can be summarized (at least so far) as follows: The president's executive power doesn't include lawmaking, and Congress' legislative power doesn't include execution. And much mischief has occurred because Congress has delegated so much of its lawmaking power to the executive, while clinging to various ineffective checks, such as creating multi-member commissions. The result has been less democracy and more entrenched power in the executive branch, with much of that power immune from political accountability…. It has been dreadful for America to see so much lawmaking power concentrated in the presidency, and many of our worst fears regarding presidential power are rooted in decisions taken by Congress over many years to punt lawmaking to the presidency."

French, however, isn't totally pessimistic where the High Court is concerned. And according to the Never Trump conservative, it remains to be seen whether its GOP-appointed supermajority will honor checks and balances or undermine them.

"If the Supreme Court is going where I think it's going," French told Bazelon, "then I think it's going to help us recover our democracy. If not, then the parade of horribles could get quite extreme, quite fast."

David French and Emily Bazelon's conversation for the New York Times' opinion section is available at this link (subscription required).