Trump Will Force the Supreme Court to Face Its Biggest Fear [View all]

Throughout US history, the judiciary has worried that a president might simply ignore its decisions.

The US Supreme Court was an untested institution in 1801 when businessman William Marbury filed a lawsuit there seeking to finalize his appointment as a justice of the peace in the District of Columbia.

Marbury had been part of a tranche of “midnight judges” appointed by John Adams in the last hours of his presidency. But the outgoing administration missed a final step amid the frenzy, failing to deliver Marbury’s signed commission to him. The lawsuit asked the Supreme Court to order the new secretary of state, James Madison, to perform what Marbury said was the routine and legally required step of delivering the document.

The case posed a dilemma for Chief Justice John Marshall, himself an Adams appointee who viewed Thomas Jefferson’s incoming administration with suspicion. Marbury had a strong case and ruling against him risked sending a message of institutional weakness, telling presidents they could shirk their legal responsibilities without fear of judicial pushback. But ruling for Marbury was also fraught: It opened the very real possibility that Jefferson and Madison would simply ignore the court’s decision.

It wouldn’t be the last time a chief justice confronted the stark reality that faces the Supreme Court: Unlike the other two branches of government, the court has no real power to enforce its decisions. Should someone — whether government official or private citizen — refuse to comply, the justices have no army or constitutional spending power to use as a cudgel.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-02-14/what-happens-if-trump-defies-the-supreme-court?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTczOTU3MjQ3NywiZXhwIjoxNzQwMTc3Mjc3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTUk85Q0ZUMVVNMFcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNjgyQTUwQzJCRDM0MTFCQTgwQjEwQjZEQjczQzM1MSJ9.zrzMJPgQM69WK2sCxmOf00y8UkQ2r1TkdU2g3yV8YYU