Of all the charges leveled at Donald Trump during his second term, among the most serious is that he is dismantling the rule of law in the United States. It’s a fiercely contested claim that concerns one of the most important features of our constitutional republic, and nowhere is the debate more ferocious than when it comes to the president’s relationship with the Supreme Court.
Conventional wisdom holds that when a U.S. president attacks the Court, the rule of law is in danger. It’s an argument that resurfaces again and again—most recently as Trump publicly clashed with the Court over tariffs and birthright citizenship.
But does that assumption actually hold up? Is Trump weakening one of the country’s most vital institutions? Attorney, former Department of Justice spokesperson, and political commentator Sarah Isgur argues that the answer is no—and that the prevailing narrative misses the mark entirely.
Today, in an exclusive excerpt from her new book, Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today's Supreme Court, she makes a provocative claim: Throughout American history, presidential attacks on the Court have not weakened it—they’ve made it stronger. Trump, she says, is no exception.
—The Editors
Earlier this month, Donald Trump made history by being the first president to attend Supreme Court oral arguments. The arguments in question were over the constitutionality of his executive order limiting birthright citizenship, which he signed in January 2025 before it was swiftly blocked by a series of preliminary injunctions.
It’s unclear what the president’s goals were in sitting in—though shortly after his return to the White House, he angrily wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. is “the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!” But whatever his motives might have been, it didn’t appear to make the judges any more receptive to his argument. All nine ranged from deeply skeptical to outright hostile to the administration’s position.
This isn’t the first time Trump has expressed overt animosity toward the Supreme Court. As an attorney and former Department of Justice spokesperson, I frequently get asked about the health of the Court and the rule of law in this country. The people asking these questions aren’t rabid partisans. They are normal, smart people who see an institution that is under assault everywhere they turn. Headlines from the left argue that the Court’s conservative majority renders it illegitimate, and that it must be packed to restore basic fairness; while headlines from the right contend that the Court has unfairly defied Trump, and must be ignored to ensure democratic accountability.
