Trump is cancelling rule of law, democracy

The first year of US President Donald Trump’s second term has taken a heavy toll on the rule of law.

- AZIZ HUQ

While this bedrock ideal of American governance has long been invoked to capture a broad range of hopes, at its core lie two mutually reinforcing values: that ordinary people can look to the law to predict accurately the consequences of their actions; and that the same law will render predictable the behavior of officials wielding the awesome powers of the state.Trump’s second administration refuses to be bound by anything so ordinary and mundane as the laws that Congress passes. The Justice Department has stated explicitly that it is no longer in the business of routinely complying with orders from federal district courts or courts of appeal, and the administration has treated laws mandating spending (and more) as optional.

The rhetorical foundation for these moves is Trump’s claim to have a “mandate” in the form of his (slender) election victory in November 2024. Never mind that, under the US constitutional system, presidents exercise authority within the terms set by the country’s laws. The administration is determined to dissolve both pillars of the rule of law—the predictability putatively promised by written, statutory law, and the principle that officials are as bound by that body of rules as ordinary people.

Accordingly, Trump’s talk of a "mandate” offers a useful starting point for thinking about the months and years ahead. The central questions that will shape not just the second Trump administration, but also the dimming prospects for American democracy, will turn on how far the president is willing to push this claim. To what lengths will he go to preserve the illusion?

Enabling actors