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Dear Reader,

When even conservative legal scholars start raising the alarm, you know the rot runs deep.

Caleb Nelson—a former clerk of Justice Clarence Thomas, and a respected "originalist"—just condemned the Supreme Court’s Trump-friendly reading of presidential power. He says the court’s embrace of the "unitary executive theory" is a distortion of the Constitution, not a defense of it.

Nelson argues what The New Republic has reported all along: that Congress—not the president—creates executive offices and sets limits on their power. Even among originalists, the court’s rulings are being called what they are: a dangerous expansion of presidential authority.

The Roberts court has repeatedly handed down rulings that give the president sweeping control with little to no accountability to Congress or the courts. 

This isn’t constitutional interpretation; it’s judicial complicity in the creation of an all-powerful presidency—with Trump at the helm. 

We need your help to keep exposing how the court is enabling Trump’s imperial presidency.

Trump has run roughshod over the balance of powers—firing government servants at will, seizing funding, and bypassing Congress to keep the military funded during a shutdown.

Thanks to the recent rulings from the court, he seems to have permission to do his worst.

Nelson joins a growing chorus of legal scholars—including other self-described originalists—who say the court is stretching the Constitution beyond recognition to insulate Trump.

At The New Republic, we’ve documented the rise of this imperial presidency—and the court’s role in enabling it—since the start of Trump 1.0. And we won’t stop now.

Will you join us in this fight? For U.S.-based donors giving $100 or more, we’ll send you a TNR tote bag—a symbol of resistance in a moment that demands it.

We need your help to hold power accountable—even when the Supreme Court won’t.

Thank you for standing with us.

Sincerely,

Michael Tomasky, editor

The New Republic

Contributions to the Fund for The New Republic are not tax-deductible as charitable donations.