The Power of the Purse IV: Redistributing Power among the Courts

As I previously described, the second Trump Administration has dramatically shifted the Power of the Purse from Congress to the President. Accompanying this change have been internal structural transformations of both Congress and the Executive Branch that have concentrated power in a few highly partisan hands and damaged or destroyed mechanisms that brought a broader range of views to bear. These transformations are both causes and consequences of the more visible transfer of power from Congress to the Executive. This post considers how the President’s seizure of greater fiscal powers has been accompanied and facilitated by a subtle but crucial power shift within the judiciary. Here, a relatively efficient structure allowing timely resolution of disputes on their merits has given way to one that tends to keep the judiciary on the sidelines. Judicial restraint, of course, is a long-honored value in our system. Much of its rationale, however, has been that the “political branches” can…