“Trump does not recognize any limits to his fascist dictatorship—not the Constitution, and not the laws or the rule of law and due process of law.” —Bob Avakian, The Trump Fascist Regime Must Go—NOW—before it is too late!

In a decision last Friday in the case Trump v. CASA, the Supreme Court effectively joined Trump in this lawless stance. Faced with clear violations by Donald Trump of the most fundamental question in the Constitution—the right of citizenship itself—and of the most fundamental question of governance—due process of law… the Supreme Court majority came down firmly on the side of fascism. To be clear, they didn’t openly say this—the majority on the Court used double-talk, “legalese” and misdirection that would be the envy of the best three-card monte hustler in New York City. Only this time what the people stand to lose is far greater than a 100-dollar bill.

The Supreme Court did this by overturning what has become over the past 60 years a well-accepted legal principle in this country: the principle that federal courts below the Supreme Court can suspend laws or presidential orders that those lower courts judge to be unconstitutional. Their decision is temporary—it only stands unless and until the Supreme Court has a chance to rule on the law in question. But this practice has often prevented damage to lawful rights from being done in the interim. 

Now because of this awful and utterly illegal decision, approximately 40 presidential orders of Trump that have been ruled unconstitutional by these lower courts over the last five months can immediately become law without Supreme Court review. And less than 30 days from now, you will very possibly wake up in a country in which a baby born in one state will have a radically different set of rights than a baby born in a different one.

But let’s back up and break down the why and how of it.

A Fascist Overturning of the Constitution

The case before the Court turned on Trump’s “reinterpretation” of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. This Amendment was passed three years after the Civil War. An Amendment is a big deal—it is not some add-on, it becomes a part of the Constitution itself. Before the Civil War, the Supreme Court had ruled in the notorious Dred Scott decision that Black people—even “free” Black people—had “no rights that a white man is bound to respect.” And even after the Civil War and the decisive defeat of the Confederate south by the Union, those former slaveholders were still trying to violently re-enslave Black people. So the 14th Amendment was passed to clearly establish that everyone born in the U.S. is a citizen with all the rights that go with that. This has been affirmed and re-affirmed in a number of cases that have come before the court in the 157 years since the Amendment was made part of the Constitution.  

But in the very first days of his term, Trump wrote an “executive order” denying this well-established right to all newborn babies whose parents happen to be undocumented immigrants. There is absolutely no legal basis for Trump to claim the authority to single-handedly repeal a basic Constitutional right. In three separate decisions, different federal district courts ruled this so-called “executive order” to be unconstitutional and suspended its implementation. Trump’s legal people then went to the Supreme Court—not to get that Court to quickly decide the merits of Trump’s clearly unconstitutional order, but instead to forbid lower courts from making any such decisions that prevent implementation of any executive orders.

This might seem like a “technicality”—and it was designed to seem that way to confuse people. But here’s the kind of thing it could mean in practice, very quickly. Suppose some day soon Trump issues an executive order that people may not criticize the president for sending jets to bomb another country without first consulting Congress. Or suppose Trump rules that Muslims may no longer attend mosques. Before last Friday, you could go to any one of 94 federal district courts and argue that this was clearly against the Constitution and—if the court agreed with you, Trump’s order would be suspended until the appeals court, and ultimately the Supreme Court, could get around to reviewing it. As of Friday’s new Supreme Court decision, however, no lower court can stop the implementation of such clearly unconstitutional orders except for the Supreme Court—which, conveniently enough, is controlled by a 6-3 fascist majority, including three who were directly appointed by Trump himself.

This is a major change.

The fascists accomplished two big things with this major change. 

First, they mowed down one of the few remaining obstacles within the government to Trump’s absolute power: the district courts. It is hard to overstate the amount of damage that Trump can do now—to the rule of law and to people’s basic rights and freedoms. Do you think we’re overstating it? Then read the dissents of the Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson to the majority decision. Jackson says, “The majority’s ruling… is profoundly dangerous, since it gives the executive the go-ahead to sometimes wield… unchecked, arbitrary power.” (emphasis added)

Cast Away Illusions

The second major thing accomplished through this is that the fascist Court actually paved the way to eliminate birthright citizenship. They allowed a 30-day delay before their edict goes into effect. How this will play out is unknown. There are 94 federal district courts spread out over the 50 states. Unless lawyers are found to bring suits good enough to win over the federal judges in each of those districts—no matter how fascist those judges might be—on the morning of July 28, there will be a situation in which children born of undocumented mothers in some states will be non-citizens, treated as “stateless,” with much more limited rights than citizens. 

As of now, there are 28 states in which the attorneys general are fascist Trump supporters. At that point, your basic rights will depend on where you live. This attack on the basic rights of immigrants is bad enough, but it also opens the door wide to far greater dangers on every front unless we mount the political struggle to drive the fascists out while there is still time.

Some commentators—including some who have made acute and insightful analysis of the outrageousness of this decision and shed light on some of its really terrible implications—still express confidence that ultimately the Supreme Court will reject Trump’s order overturning birthright citizenship because it is so blatantly unconstitutional. These commentators miss that the Supreme Court has, with this maneuver, temporarily kicked the can down the road. The Court has created conditions—both through the confusion it has sown and the potentially vast new powers it has granted to Trump—that could make it more “politically possible” for it to outright eliminate birthright citizenship for immigrants in every state, say, six months from now, without the widespread upheaval that might have resulted from ruling on it directly this past week. This misplaced and groundless confidence—that at the end of the day the Court will somehow reverse course and decide correctly—is a form of denial that continues to be a major barrier to the kind of struggle needed. There is momentum and direction behind this fascism; unless the tens of millions who increasingly abhor and hate it are mobilized very soon onto a much higher and more determined level, it can and will become too late.

Two Countries Within One Country

On the day after the 2024 election, Bob Avakian (BA) made the extremely important point that there are really “two countries” within this country. This, he said

is an extension of a fundamental division that has existed since the beginning of the so-called “United States” of America, with its foundation in slavery and genocide—a division which has never really been resolved throughout the history of this country—not through the Civil War in the 1860s, and not through changes that were brought about through the 1960s and in the years following.

As I have said before, there is a direct line from the pro-slavery Confederacy, at the time of the Civil War, to the fascism of today, with its determination to make America once again openly, aggressively white supremacist, male supremacist, and anti-LGBT people.

In as soon as less than a month, this could take literal shape, with two different definitions of citizenship in different parts of the country. Of course, the division BA is talking about doesn’t directly break down by “states”—there are millions of people in the fascist-controlled states who see themselves as unalterably opposed to and are acting against the fascists who rule them. But that is the point: one or another of these countries must win out. What you do NOW can count greatly as to which one does.

To return to Bob Avakian one final time, by way of conclusion:

Enough is enough—in fact, things have already gone way too far, and if this fascism is not defeated and removed from power soon, it really will become too late.

The time is upon us: There must now be a major, qualitative ramping up of relentless resistance against this fascist regime, becoming even more massive and sustained—mobilizing millions and millions of people—moving non-violently but with fierce determination around the crucial unifying demand that Trump and his fascist regime must go—NOW!: aiming for nothing less than bringing the functioning of this fascist regime to a halt and creating the conditions where it is removed from power. (from social media message REVOLUTION #124, "Donald Trump’s whole fascist regime is caught in a contradiction of its own making: his continual Big Lies.")