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As always, not a lawyer, but one thing that leaps out at me about how things are going down in the courts right now is that the US court system is not designed to be responsive to a crisis like this one. A crisis like this one is not what it's FOR. Courts are designed to answer small, narrow, discrete questions. But our current crisis isn't an accumulation of small, narrow, discrete questions, and trying to get the courts to solve it is like trying to empty a bucket of sand with a pair of tweezers.

The constitution has a system in place for a crisis like this, and that system is impeachment and removal from office. That's the mechanism by which this kind of a crisis is supposed to be resolved. Removing that mechanism"as Republican congressional majorities have made it clear that there is literally nothing this administration could do that would make them even contemplate impeachment"is the equivalent of cutting a car's brake lines.

You might be able to stop such a car, there are things you can do to try to stop such a car, but the way you're supposed to stop the car"the mechanism in the car that stops it when it needs to stop"no longer exists. And so every time a federal judge acts in a way that seems weird or unsuited to the moment, the first thing I try to remember is that they're being asked to empty a bucket of sand with a pair of tweezers.

I think this is absolutely right.

A critical part of American jurisprudence is that the matters to be adjudicated need to be narrow and the need to be precise. You don't throw everything but the kitchen sink in complaints. You present discrete disputes to the tribunal, not a laundry list of broad-based beefs. The system does not handle the latter very well for a host of reasons that, while a bit cumbersome to detail here, is something lawyers and judges know very well.

There has been very little focus on Republicans in Congress right now. Some of them are getting heat at town halls back home, but none of the commentary or general outrage, certainly at the national level, is really aimed at them. They no doubt love that fact, of course, because they all know that (a) everything that's happening right now is illegal as all get-out; (b) it is their job, pursuant to the Constitution, to put a stop to it; but (c) they have absolutely no desire to do that because they consider the people and institutions that are being harmed their enemy and those who are benefitting from this chaos their friends. And that's before you get to the part about how they're all cowards and are afraid to upset Trump.

I hope we'll eventually find our way out of this crisis, but no matter how that plays out, one thing is absolutely certain: Trump has been able to assume and exercise dictatorial powers because the Republican-controlled Congress has allowed him to do so.