The Politicization of The US Judicial System Empowers Authoritarianism

      When the Founding Fathers created the U.S. government, they wanted to remove the chance of a tyrannical king ever taking hold of the government. An important stopgap from this event from ever occurring was the power of the courts. One of the most important duties of federal judges is the ability to make judgements of the legality of actions taken by the government. Given the current political climate, it’s role to check the power of the president is more important now more than ever. President Trump’s distaste for his political opponents is well-known as well as his willingness to bend the rules. Trump’s antics scared many into believing that his strong-man desire would corrupt our government structure. While the judicial system has managed to withstand the actions of the president, the current impeachment trial has riled up the political climate and crippled the autonomy of judicial system. A weakened judicial system has enabled the authoritarian tendencies of the president and softened the institutional strength of our government.
       Initially, the judicial branch acted as an important stopgap on the policies of the president in cases such as the block on his travel ban as well as his use of emergency funds to build the border wall. These decisions to block the executive orders of the president reflected an increase in the role of the judicial branch in checking the power of the president. While this provided an initial sign that the institutions would hold against the authoritarian practices of the president, it would not hold for long.
The current hostilities in the political climate can trace back to the strategies implemented by the Republican Party under the Obama administration. The decision by Mitch McConnell to block the court nominations of Obama led to a huge opportunity for the Trump administration. This has led to the administration appointing a record number of federal judges. Here, McConnell was able to “paralyze and undermine the safeguards of legality” by packing of the federal courts (Huq & Ginsburg,43). Doing so, one of the most effective checks on the power of the president has weakened considerably. With this extremely partisan shift, the courts are in a position to enable the president, essentially giving him a free pass enact executive orders without the threat of legal repercussions. This can be seen by the recent decision by the 5th Appeals court to unblock the funding of the border wall. Appointing this large wave of judges has allowed Trump to legally pack the courts and establish a precedent that would normalize his actions from a legal point of view. Within this newly polarized political climate, Democrats themselves are not blameless. They have also attempt to shift the courts with their attempt to block the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. This was seen as an act of revenge against McConnell for his previous refusal to have a hearing for Merrick Garland. Not only has the packing of the courts weaken the justice system, but changes to the Department of Justice has weakened the lawful consequences of the president’s actions.
      The decision of previous Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the legal investigation effectively allowed the Justice Department to continue its investigations into the actions of the current Administration. With his resignation and the appointment of William Barr, the Department of Justice effectively became politicized. William Barr has outright refused to act upon his duty of being impartial and have decided to assist the president is his legal endeavors. This can be seen with Barr’s cooperation with the Trump legal team to assist him in the impeachment inquiry. Through Barr’s actions, the final legal check on the president was effectively removed. This change in the policy of the Justice Department has set a dangerous precedent for the government. With threat of punishment being removed, the President has felt emboldened, even deciding to go after his political opponents and undermining the legal system.
      Normalization of the president’s crimes enables not only the current administration to enact authoritarian policies but also allows future leaders to consolidate power. Partisanship under the current administration has led to key figures within the Senate and the Department of Justice to sidestep from their responsibility and corroded the system’s ability to be a powerful check on the government. With the president able to weaken institutions, it puts heavy pressure on the citizenry to be a check on the actions of the leader. The effectiveness of this check is also less effective because of the culture of authoritarianism being considered normal. These factors can combine into democratic backsliding and an overall decline in the effectiveness of the current political system. The only way to help reduce the impact of the actions of the current of the administration lies in Congress. Legal challenges by the Democratic party on the president has acted as a form of accountability on the executive branch as well as cover for the failures of the judicial branch. This can be seen through various events such as the Impeachment Trial of President of Donald Trump as well as the attempt to block the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Despite this, their actions have had little to no affect in slowing the actions of the current administration. The best way to undo these actions is to restore the role of the judicial role to help prevent the continued consolidation of power by the executive branch as well as restore some normalcy within our institutions. An effective democracy within the U.S. can only function if each branch performs its duties with the upmost care.