tippinsights Editorial Board, TIPP Insights
Paralyzed, Powerless, and Proud of It—Cashing Paychecks, Taking Dance Lessons, and Preening for the Spotlight While the Courts Scramble to Fill the Void and Litigants Judge-Shop for Nationwide Injunctions.
If our Founding Fathers had visited Capitol Hill today, they would be utterly shocked to see Congress’s dysfunction. Far from the grand powers that they gave Congress in our Constitution (among the three co-equal branches, they found their bicameral design of Congress so unique that they listed out its functions first, as Article I), they would have witnessed today’s House and Senate as worthless bystanders doing absolutely nothing—and being a big draw on the nation’s purse to boot.
In the nine weeks since President Trump was sworn in, the White House has been busy with a blitzkrieg of activity. Trump has signed 95 Executive Orders spanning every principal federal agency or function of government.
Expectedly, Trump has been most active in cracking down on illegal immigration, deportations, reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” policy, declaring a national emergency at the southern border, designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (impacts ICE and CBP operations), and attempting to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants.
Trump campaigned vigorously about his “America First” vision for trade, and expectedly, tariffs and economic nationalism have taken center stage in his Department of the Treasury and Department of Commerce Executive Orders. His Department of State executive orders have made America withdraw from the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accords and dismantled USAID. This $50-billion soft-power aid agency has been interfering with foreign governments for decades.
Trump also campaigned to shift military policy priorities and enhance national security. The most earth-shattering policy shift is that the United States now embraces Russia as a potential long-term partner, seeking to distance Russia from China. Ukraine, Europe, and Canada are no longer as important to Washington.
Trump has rolled back DEI initiatives in our armed forces and banned transgender individuals from serving in the military. Finally, Trump has been on an aggressive campaign to shrink the size of the federal government and point out instances of fraud and abuse.
Meanwhile, the 538 members of Congress (435 House + 100 Senate + 3 D.C. members) have all been standing idly by—with a “deer-in-the-headlights” look, frozen, stunned, and overwhelmed by surprise or fear. No one knows what they do up on Capitol Hill anymore and why these representatives and the massive congressional staff should even draw a paycheck. It is as though Congress has given up on its Article I powers.
Section 8 of Article I gives Congress exclusive powers that are not granted to the President or the Courts. These enumerated powers include collecting taxes, paying debts, and spending to provide for the “common defense and general welfare” of the American people. Congress also has unique powers to regulate overseas trade, borrow money by issuing debt on behalf of the U.S., and set rules for naturalization, including immigration. Today, President Trump is dominating all these areas of government – in a way our forefathers never intended.
The judiciary established under Article III of the Constitution, forms the third leg of the federal tripod alongside Congress (legislative) and the President (Executive). The core job of the courts is to interpret laws, settle disputes, and keep the other branches in check. With Congress worthlessly standing by, it has fallen to the courts to check President Trump.
So rigorous is the resistance that plaintiffs find something wrong with every Trump EO, rush to one of 677 federal courts that will likely be sympathetic to their cause, and urge the judge to issue a nationwide injunction to stop the EO from taking effect. Sources like The Washington Post (February 7, 2025) noted roughly 120 lawsuits targeting Trump’s actions, including executive orders, within the first three weeks of his presidency. Other organizations place the estimates higher. NBC News (February 7, 2025) and X posts (March 23, 2025) suggest over 150 lawsuits tied to executive actions, though this includes agency moves beyond just the 95 orders. Axios (February 12, 2025) pegged the Justice Department alone as defending over 50 suits, many linked to orders on immigration, transgender rights, and bureaucracy cuts.
Our founders never envisioned that governance would involve such a terrible tit-for-tat situation, with each day’s news focusing on a federal judge’s order or a Trump administration filing to challenge that order. The net result has been that America’s government, the contractors that rely on the government’s largesse, and the millions of employees have all been paralyzed. Parties are fighting each other in the courts, but the underlying reform the voters wanted when they returned Trump to Washington is stuck.
With Congress unwilling or unable to intervene in the fight between two branches of government, the Supreme Court, the apex institution that decides all disputes, would be left to bring an end to this madness. Essentially, the Supreme Court will have to rule on scores of lawsuits under a governing principle that federal judges cannot impose nationwide injunctions, and the power of the presidency is supreme.
We are not there yet, but the conservative majority on the Supreme Court provided some clues last summer. In June 2024, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in Trump v. United States that significantly reshaped the scope of presidential power, specifically regarding immunity from criminal prosecution. Chief Justice Roberts leaned on the principle of separation of powers, arguing that the president needs “energy” and independence to lead without constant fear of prosecution.
The current impasse between Trump and the federal judiciary is not about Trump’s “constant fear of persecution.” However, Roberts’s insistence that “the president needs energy and independence to lead” is welcome news for Trump and any future president because it tends to defer to the executive’s discretion on how to run the country.
In the meantime, Congress will continue to be the bystander.
