There is much speculation on whether President Trump will simply refuse to comply with judicial orders. There's the famous line of Andrew Jackson, "The court has made their ruling, let them enforce it." JD Vance recently tweeted that he does not believe Musk's rogue DOGE agency should be subject to judicial review. The writer behind a lot of the philosophy of Trump and Vance, Curtis Yarvin, advocates that the president should simply ignore court orders and do what he wills. Many have lamented that if this were the case, that there is nothing the Supreme Court could do. That they would simply be powerless, and that the only hope would be that the military would step in.
But I can think of an option for such a scenario that I haven't heard discussed anywhere. If a president openly defies a direct order by a Supreme Court, could the court then call upon the ancient common law tradition of a Writ of Outlawry?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlaw
In common parlance, we use the term "outlaw" to refer to someone that is simply a criminal or on the run from the law. But traditionally it was something a lot more specific. Back in ancient days where it was much more difficult to track down fugitives, courts would declare those who refused to subject themselves to the court's process as "outlaws." They literally were declared as outside the protection from the law. It was then legal for literally anyone to do whatever they wanted to that person, and they would face no legal penalties whatsoever. An outlaw could literally be killed, and their killer would face no penalties. The philosophy was that if someone was going to refuse to subject themselves to the law, then they did not deserve the protection of the law.
Could this be the answer to Jackson's quip? Ultimately the Supreme Court determines the working of the justice system. If a court rules that no lower court can hold someone accountable for crimes against someone, then anyone could harm that person with impunity.
Could this be a final and ultimate option for the Supreme Court to hold a rogue president accountable? Give the president plenty of chances and fair warning. But if the president simply refuses to abide by the court's rulings, then the court could activate this ancient tradition and declare them an outlaw. It would then be completely legal for anyone to do whatever they wanted to the president, including the Secret Service agents that surround him at all times. Could the Supreme Court rein in a lawless president by simply declaring that president outside of the law's protection?
This is MAGA-type thinking you're demonstrating. Democrats massively fucked up the 2024 election. It is important that those lessons be studied, learned from, and not repeated. Yes, Trump is worse, but that's completely irrelevant to the conversation at hand. We have another Trump term precisely because of the mistakes the DNC made during the election. Failing to listen to those mistakes doesn't help Democrats, and it doesn't help the country. Failing to learn from the mistakes of 2016 and 2020 are how we ended up with 2024 after all.
Do not for a second think Trump or some other MAGA candidate cannot win in 2028. Regardless of how bad Trump governs, even ignoring the potential for election shenanigans, it is entirely possible that Trump will win again in 2028. And every person that sticks their fingers in their ears and ignores all criticism of elected Democrats makes that event all the more likely.
Democrats ran on "we're not Trump" in 2016, 2020, and 2024. That strategy lost them both 2016 and 2024, and it would have lost them 2020 if not for covid.
Yet here you are, still trying the same tired "we're not Trump" strategy. You're clearly insane, as you keep trying the same thing again and again, expecting a different result.