Norman Eisen and Colby Galliher write:

For all the seeming chaos of his administration, Donald Trump actually had a philosophy of governance, one grounded in assaulting the rule of law, ethics, and truth itself: Trumpery. In a new book, we warn that with Trump out of office, the greatest danger posed by Trumpery is that others will adopt it. Now that has apparently happened at the Supreme Court, as reflected in Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion overruling Roe v. Wade.

Perhaps the single most defining characteristic of Trumpery is its disdain for the rule of law. The Alito draft in the Dobbs case has that in spades. A central tenet of Supreme Court jurisprudence is stare decisis, the idea that once the Supreme Court has ruled on something, it is settled law and is entitled to permanence, even if later courts may disagree with it. That is particularly true where you have a decadeslong established precedent like Roe.

By upending one of the core legal principles governing the Supreme Court’s functioning, the Alito draft undermines the rule of law—and the court’s legitimacy. It is akin to Trump’s incessant assault on the laws and norms of the presidency, which in time undermined and weakened the executive branch and Americans’ faith in it. Alito and the four justices who are reportedly ready to rule with him are sending the Supreme Court down that same slippery slope. And they are sending a dangerous message: If Roe can be tossed out, then any Supreme Court precedent is in jeopardy. There goes stare decisis. [Continue reading…]