Dear Jurisprudence: Here's What the Next Democratic President Must Do on Day 1 [View all]

[Celerity]

You cannot bring a shrimp fork to a knife fight.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/12/trump-democracy-supreme-court-2028-democrats.html

https://archive.ph/agCp2





Dahlia Lithwick: This is really an existential question as much as a legal one, but I know you’ve given it some thought.

Mark Joseph Stern: I think anyone who cares about salvaging American democracy needs to be asking those exact questions. And it’s pretty clear to me that the very first item on the agenda needs to be envisioning what the next Democratic president—let’s say, President AOC—should do in the first 24 hours of their time in office. That means embracing the maximalist vision of executive power that Trump has established to undo the damage that he is currently inflicting. Trump has amassed vast new powers for the president, and the next Democrat in the White House simply cannot surrender them. That would be unilateral disarmament, and a disservice to the country. What he or she needs to do instead is wield those powers aggressively for good, repair everything that’s broken, help the people Trump has hurt, and push forward with their own goals.

How does that cash out? First, let’s remember that the Supreme Court has now effectively granted the president authority to impound federal funds duly appropriated by Congress and to abolish federal agencies established and funded by Congress. I think that is terrible and anti-constitutional. But thanks to the Supreme Court, that is now the law. So let’s talk about what President AOC can do with those powers in 2029. On Day 1, she needs to impound ICE’s budget. She needs to refuse to spend the billions of dollars that Congress has appropriated to the agency and fire tens of thousands of immigration agents immediately, starting with those who committed acts of violence and discrimination—which, by that point, may be almost all of them. Close as many immigrant detention facilities as possible and free the detainees.

Then turn to Customs and Border Protection. Fire CBP chief Greg Bovino. Fire every single agent who participated in the horrific operations in Chicago, D.C., and L.A. Refuse to pay out a penny in benefits to any agent who broke the law. Release all the information about ICE and CBP’s immigration sweeps, including the names of every agent who participated. Start investigations and prosecutions of any law-breaking agent whom Trump doesn’t pardon. Repurpose the billions of dollars in savings as a reparations fund for every victim. Run the reparations program through a new agency established by executive order. Pay to return noncitizens who were wrongly deported back to the country. Transform ICE and CBP’s headquarters into the nerve center of a new Truth and Reconciliation Agency, and use this extra money to pay out damages to the victims of the mass deportation campaign. This would be 100 percent legal under the precedent established by Trump and the Supreme Court.

Remember: Trump has illegally fired tens of thousands of civil servants, closed agencies like USAID unilaterally, refused to pay out billions of dollars appropriated by Congress, halted our refugee program, shuttered the Education Department, paid reparations to Jan. 6 defendants and quite possibly himself. I think all of that should be illegal, but the Supreme Court has said that it is not. And you just cannot fight fire with a dripping faucet. So I say: Take these powers and use them to undo Trump’s legacy and really flood the zone. Blitz the country with these executive orders on Day 1 and dare anybody to stop you.

snip