It's hard to keep track of all the lawsuits that have been filed against President Donald Trump and his administration over the past three years. In November alone, the president waged legal battles to keep his tax returns hidden, to block aides from testifying in his impeachment hearings, and to enforce his immigration policies. Some of these cases can be traced to Trump's unique foibles, like his opaque finances and penchant for committing impeachable offenses. But others, particularly when policy is at stake, reflect a deeper shift in the American political process over the past decade.
The 2010s will be remembered as a decade when the courts overtook Congress as the primary arena for political debates and outcomes. With the legislative branch impotent and hollowed out, the executive branch—and the president who sits atop it—increasingly makes and carries out the policy decisions that shape American lives. The counterweight to this arrangement isn't a coequal branch of government but unceasing litigation by the opposition party and its ideological allies. These changes did not overthrow the American constitutional order. But they have warped it in ways that may not be sustainable in the long run.
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