Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
Republican Supreme Court justices use the shadow docket to stop policies they don’t like, and to allow policies they do like. They are more partisan ideological actors than judges focused on the law.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVnkh9dUXGE
The conservatives on the Supreme Court advanced the shadow docket as a prominent way to make impactful decisions while fighting with the Obama administration.They wanted to stop major Obama actions so that a final ruling wouldn’t come after the actions have already had a major impact. Yet, during the Trump administration, the shadow docket has often been used to allow Trump to go ahead with actions. The conservatives of the Supreme Court appear to be using the shadow docket to implement their political ideology, not execute sound and considered legal decisions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWpPuWH8TQk
“Trump appointees who defy the president’s will are showing the courage of their convictions, applying the law as they understand it rather than reflexively deferring to the politician who gave them their jobs. But Trump, who takes it for granted that justices vote the way they do for political reasons, neither understands nor appreciates judicial independence.”
https://reason.com/2026/02/23/trumps-tantrum-over-the-tariff-decision-highlights-his-narcissistic-authoritarianism/
The Conservative Supreme Court justices can’t agree on what the major questions doctrine is and what exceptions to it should be.
The Supreme Court made a major change in how lower courts operate by limiting nationwide injunctions. Such injunctions could have prevented the US government from illegally taking all this money in the first place and avoided the issue of if, when, and to whom, the tariff money is paid back. This policy allows the president to act illegally for months or years until the Supreme Court finally resolves a case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BQsRxvkcZI
Congress should codify Trump’s trade agreements so Trump can’t keep going back on them and creating more uncertainty in the economy.
Trump still has a variety of tariff powers, but they are more limited and require more hoops to jump through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krb6SQKRdeg
“When federal judges told the Trump administration that it was necessary to provide due process to suspected undocumented immigrants before deporting them, Homan said the administration was “not stopping,” and added: “I don’t care what the judges think.”
…
The FBI reportedly recorded Homan accepting a $50,000 bribe from undercover agents posing as potential government contractors. Homan has denied taking the money or doing anything wrong, and the White House has dismissed the case as politically motivated, but lots of questions remain unanswered”
https://reason.com/2026/01/27/tom-homan-isnt-the-solution/
“It’s highly unusual for federal judges to issue such direct accusations and contempt threats against the government. However, an increasing number of judges have become exasperated by the Trump administration’s noncompliance with their orders in immigration cases.
…
The Trump administration insists that it can arrest anyone present in the country unlawfully without a warrant and hold them in mandatory detention without a bond hearing. This interpretation of the law abandons a precedent that has been in place for nearly 30 years.
…
judges find themselves batting down the same specious arguments from the Justice Department over and over.”
https://reason.com/2026/01/29/federal-judge-slams-ice-for-violating-nearly-100-court-orders-ice-is-not-a-law-unto-itself/
“Trump quietly pulls National Guard from Chicago and Los Angeles after series of court losses”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-quietly-pulls-national-guard-163846290.html
Republicans at the state level have been packing their state supreme courts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DydX81PEbVQ
“Raguse, who was in the courtroom, reported that Le said it was like “pulling teeth” to get the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Justice Department to follow court orders.
DHS, which oversees ICE, and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Le could not be reached for comment.
She made the remarks after U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell ordered the government to explain why it had not followed court orders in immigration proceedings, including not releasing several immigrant detainees he had ordered be let out.
Blackwell said in an order this week that the government’s “failures” were “alarming” because the government’s “persistent noncompliance with orders in this District was extensively detailed just last week,” pointing to a decision from Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee. Schiltz wrote that his “patience is at an end” and that the government had failed to comply with “dozens of court orders.”
…
Multiple lawyers at the U.S. attorney’s office have departed over ethical concerns in recent weeks, people familiar with the matter told NBC News. Trump administration officials have been trying to surge resources into the district to fill the gaps.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/attorney-government-tells-judge-ice-052336949.html