Rather than standing as a bulwark protecting constitutional rights, the Supreme Court has been turned into a crucial instrument of Trump/MAGA fascism hammering this illegitimate, illegal repressive order into place. 

The Supreme Court is a Christian-fascist packed court. The Supreme Court has played a key role in implementing the fascist program: systematically gutting the Constitutional separation of church and state, taking away women's basic right to abortion, gutting voting rights for Black people and more. Fascism—no matter how it comes to power—is illegitimate. It is not “just” that the Court has made a lot of bad decisions; it has become illegitimate as an institution. 

Here are three essential reasons why:

ONE: The rogue “Supreme” Court literally granted Trump an eternal “get out of jail free” card for January 6 and any other criminal acts he might commit in the future as president—powers never before envisioned in U.S. constitutional law.

In 2024, the Supreme Court suddenly granted the president new powers never envisioned under the Constitution. They granted presidents immunity from legal prosecution for anything they did while carrying out the duties of office. 

Right away, this meant that Trump would not have to face trial for his criminal acts attempting to steal the 2020 election, leading into the insurrection of January 6, 2020. But it was far worse than that.

To get a sense of just how sweeping this decision was, here is what the dissenting opinion from Justice Sonia Sotomayor said:

The long-term consequences of today’s decision are stark. The court effectively creates a law-free zone around the President, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the Founding.

The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune, immune, immune. Immune.

John Roberts, head of this rogue court, did not even try to deny or even address Sotomayor’s point in his “rebuttal.” Next time you hear Trump threaten to prosecute and even execute his political opponents, remember Sotomayor’s point. And think about this—if Trump can go after an ex-president the way he is threatening to go after Barack Obama, who can’t he go after?!? And what can’t he do??

How can a court that renders such a fundamentally anti-constitutional decision be in any way considered legitimate?

TWO: This rogue “Supreme” Court has continually blocked efforts of lower courts to hold Trump accountable to the Constitution—usually without any explanation whatsoever and at great immediate human cost.

This past June the Supreme Court suddenly removed from lower federal courts the ability to temporarily block clearly unconstitutional orders. The case in point concerned “birthright citizenship”—the right of all children born in the U.S. to be U.S. citizens, a right granted by the Fourteenth Amendment. This right had been drastically curtailed by Trump with an “executive order” aimed at stripping the citizenship of children who were born here of parents who are not citizens or do not hold “green cards.” 

Right now, this is still being fought out. But it shouldn’t even be a question! The principle is this: presidents cannot tear up the Constitution with some arbitrary “executive order.” Or at least they couldn’t, until this rogue Supreme Court suddenly put that in doubt. 

Analyzing this case, Bob Avakian wrote that:

The fact is that the Supreme Court majority is determined to enable Trump to bulldoze over challenges to his fascist regime—regardless of legal precedent, basic logic, and the obvious meaning of things, including the Constitution. It is not clear at this point whether this majority is prepared to further expose its fascist nature by blatantly ruling against the clear language of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, but it is definitely possible that the Court could at some point (and perhaps soon) side with Trump’s whole assault on Birthright Citizenship, even as Trump’s actions are flagrantly in violation of the 14th Amendment. (Now Trump is threatening to revoke the citizenship of people he regards as “enemies.” Can anyone feel confident that the Supreme Court will not find a way to back him up on this?) [From social media message @BobAvakianOfficial REVOLUTION #126: More on why only the sustained determined action of decent people can be relied on to defeat and remove the Trump fascist regime.]

Meanwhile, the majority on the Court increasingly supports Trump’s fascist “executive orders” by overturning lower court decisions without any explanation as to why. This is rightfully called the “shadow docket”—because the reasoning never reaches the light of day. The Supreme Court has overturned lower courts that have stopped Trump from one unconstitutional act after another 90 percent of the time, often without a word as why! So even when the lower federal courts rule against him, Trump steams ahead with his vicious and arbitrary orders. These orders have included:

• deporting immigrants to torture prisons in countries those immigrants have never even set foot in…
• banning and then discharging all transgender troops and denying or sharply restricting any separation benefits (e.g., GI Bill, etc.)…
• firing federal employees without cause and in violation of their contracts to even abolishing entire federal departments—as they did with the Department of Education!

All with the protection of the “shadow docket.”

As Bob Avakian put it in social media message REVOLUTION #126: 

[T]hose who make up the majority on the Supreme Court are not acting as “legal scholars” who adhere to the Constitution and make rational judgments about whether laws are constitutional. They are fascist functionaries who “re-interpret” the Constitution and the laws, ignoring and defying legal precedent, basic logic and the clear meaning of things, as a key part of enforcing the aims of the Trump fascist regime, of which they are effectively an instrument.

How can a Court with such a majority be considered legitimate?

THREE: This rogue “Supreme” Court is only possible in the first place because the fascists stole two seats, lied their way into others and have covered up conflicts of interests in critical cases!

Stealing seats and misleading testimony: When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, Barack Obama nominated a successor. But with Obama still having nearly a year to serve in his term, the fascists refused to even meet with Obama’s nominee, let alone hold hearings or vote on him. They claimed the entire nomination was illegitimate, because Obama had less than a year to serve as president—an entirely made up “rule” with no precedent! Then when Trump got in, the Republicans promptly filled the vacant seat with the fascist Neil Gorsuch. Then in 2020, when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died just a few weeks before the election and there really wasn’t time to hold hearings, the fascists ignored this made-up rule of theirs and bum-rushed the Christian-fascist Amy Coney Barrett into the seat. 

Not only that, fascist justices like Kavanaugh intentionally misled senators about their views on the right to abortion, creating the impression that they would not overturn Roe v. Wade (the Supreme Court decision that guaranteed that right). Then, once on the Court, they went back on their word.

But it even goes beyond that, to connections with Trump’s outrageous attempted coup in January 2021: Clarence Thomas’ wife, Ginni Thomas, was a major player in backing and funding the January election steal/coup attempt by Trump. Alito has flown flags at his house that indicate backing for that coup attempt. That doesn’t mean that they (Justices Thomas and Alito) necessarily share those views. But justices are supposed to recuse themselves from cases in which they have “conflicts of interest.” It is beyond belief that two justices who refused to dissociate themselves from what were clear fascist activities and/or openly expressed fascist sympathies on the part of their spouses were allowed to vote on a case that would determine whether Trump would get immunity for prosecution from those events.

Once more, how can such a Court, whose members reached the court through violation of precedent and deceit, and who act without regard to crucial conflicts of interest, be considered legitimate or in any way deserving of respect as an institution?

On the contrary: this Supreme Court has, through its own actions, made itself illegitimate. It is a crucial linchpin in this whole fascist regime and as an institution deserves no respect whatsoever.