Federal judges across the country are issuing extraordinary warnings as Donald Trump tests the limits of presidential power and pushes the nation toward authoritarianism. In a rare move, Judge Susan Graber urged Americans to “retain faith in our judicial system for just a little longer,” as lower courts work to restrain Trump’s overreach. These judges aren’t just issuing rulings— they’re preserving the factual record at the very moment Trump is trying to erase history, collective memory, and truth itself.

While the Supreme Court has largely enabled Trump’s power grab, lower-court judges have risen to the moment, calling out government lies and defending the Constitution under historic pressure. Former federal judge Michael Luttig notes that, in the absence of a Supreme Court willing to confront Trump’s abuses, lower courts have taken the extraordinary step of speaking directly to the American people through their opinions— breaking with centuries of judicial tradition — because, as he puts it, it is a paramount obligation of federal judges ”to condemn what’s happening in America today.” If the Supreme Court fails to meet the moment, Luttig is blunt about who is left to defend democracy: “It’s we the people in whom all power resides,“ he says. “If the Supreme Court will not come to the aid of the country, then all that’s left is for we, the people, to take back the country through elections and protests. We have no choice.“ 

Now that Democrats have gained some traction during the governmental shutdown, they must bring into sharp focus the true challenge of this moment.

From Chicago to Portland, James Comey to Letitia James, and so much else—this is no longer America.

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