1. United States
2. Letter

Precedent is dead at the Court, at least insofar as sidestepping it is necessary to protect Donald Trump. Whether it’s the 14th Amendment case that ignored the plain language of the Constitution, or the presidential immunity case where the Court created a safe harbor from criminal prosecution for Donald Trump that the Constitution doesn’t give voice to, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the Court is behaving like an unelected political body. The Court itself hasn’t given us reason to. As an institution, it has refused to address clear abuses by Justices Thomas and Alito, adopting a nonbinding ethics code but not using it to rectify what is wrong. Its decisions have split along ideological lines where Trump’s interests are concerned.