The separation of powers that
characterizes governments in the United States assumes that each branch will act
to further its own interests, given the salience of self-interest (and
self-preservation) in human nature. It is assumed that the checks and balances
between legislative, judicial, and executive branches will keep any one branch
from dominating the other two, and, moreover, the government itself from
becoming tyrannical at the expense of the liberty of the citizenry. It is not
assumed or relied upon that a branch will prune itself without external
pressure from one of the other branches. Yet the U.S. Supreme Court may have
done so in ruling on June 27, 2025 to limit “the ability of lower-court judges
to block executive branch policies nationwide.”[1]
I contend that any real wing-clipping by 6 of the 9 justices is illusory rather
than indicative of the federal judiciary unilaterally restricting itself.
The full essay is at "The U.S. Supreme Court."
1. Abbie Vansickle, “Justices Put Limit on Judges’ Power, In Win for Trump,” The New York Times, June 28, 2025.
