The first 90 days of President Donald Trump’s second term have unfolded like a slow-motion coup against the rule of law.
From strong-arming law firms to deporting immigrants in defiance of court orders, from dismantling federal agencies to weaponizing the tax code against perceived enemies, this administration has operated with a brazen disregard for legal and constitutional limits.
The Supreme Court has already stepped in to halt one of Trump’s most aggressive moves—the mass deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members—issuing a terse order forbidding the government from removing them “until further order of this Court.”
The president’s response has been one of defiance, not deference.
Consider the March 6 executive order targeting a prominent law firm that represented Hillary Clinton and other Democrats entangled in the Russia investigation. Two of its top lawyers are gone, but Trump appears determined to drive the firm—which employs 3,700 people—into ruin.
Meanwhile, his administration has moved to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status, deport legal residents over campus protests, and dismantle federal agencies by executive fiat.
To some, this is merely hardball politics—the natural extension of executive power expanded under previous administrations.
To others, it is something far darker: the deliberate erosion of constitutional guardrails in service of one man’s vendettas and ambitions.
The Free Press asked seven of the nation’s most respected legal minds—conservatives, liberals, and nonpartisan jurists among them—whether Trump is breaking the law.
Their answers were unanimous, unequivocal, and alarming.
“The Trump White House is sabotaging itself with its unbridled hostility toward the courts.”
— Michael W. McConnell, former federal judge and Bush appointee
McConnell warns that the administration’s refusal to comply with judicial orders—such as its stubborn defiance in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a wrongly deported Salvadoran—risks destroying the delicate balance of power between branches. “Life-tenured judges are not easy to bully,” he writes. Yet Trump continues to threaten them, even floating the outrageous idea of imprisoning American citizens abroad to evade judicial oversight.
“President Trump is using extortion to achieve his objectives. We are living under a form of government closest to the Mafia.”
— Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law professor
Lessig pulls no punches: Trump’s threats against universities, law firms, and even foreign nations amount to criminal extortion. “The only way to respond to a Capo-in-Chief is through full-on resistance,” he argues, lamenting that Congress has failed to act as a check.
“For Donald Trump, law is nothing but politics.”
— Ed Whelan, former Scalia clerk and conservative legal scholar
Whelan, who supports many of Trump’s policies, condemns the president’s transformation of the Justice Department into a political weapon. The sidelining of the Office of Legal Counsel—traditionally the guardian of executive-branch legality—has led to a flood of legally dubious orders. “The administration has no coherent legal strategy,” Whelan warns. “Only a political one.”
“The Trump administration has openly, repeatedly, and unashamedly violated the First Amendment.”
— Aziz Huq, University of Chicago constitutional law professor
Huq highlights the administration’s blatant viewpoint discrimination—punishing universities, media outlets, and activists for dissent. “The interesting question is not whether the Trump administration honors the First Amendment (it doesn’t),” he writes. “The question is how those loyal to the Constitution should respond.”
“Even laudable goals are being pursued with reckless disregard for the law.”
— Jonathan Adler, Case Western Reserve law professor
Adler, a conservative critic of regulatory overreach, warns that Trump’s methods—whether in rolling back environmental rules or defunding universities—undermine the very rule of law he claims to defend. “Agencies do not get to rescind regulations just because the president says so,” he reminds us.
“Trump is taking major steps toward authoritarianism.”
— Ilya Somin, George Mason University law professor
Somin dissects three alarming power grabs: the illegal impounding of congressionally appropriated funds, the bogus “invasion” justification for mass deportations, and the unconstitutional imposition of tariffs. “If not stopped,” he warns, “this will lead to one-man rule.”
“The real question is why the administration is acting lawlessly.”
— Andy McCarthy, former federal prosecutor
McCarthy, a tough-on-crime conservative, is stunned by the administration’s admission that it illegally deported Garcia—and its refusal to correct the error. “The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without due process,” he writes, quoting a Reagan-appointed judge. “This should be shocking to all Americans.”
The Verdict: A President Unmoored from the Law
These experts span the ideological spectrum. Some voted for Trump. Others opposed him. All agree: This is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is a president testing how far he can go—and finding that, so far, no one can stop him.
Legal experts from across the political spectrum – including conservative judges and prosecutors – agree President Trump is crossing dangerous lines by ignoring court orders, punishing critics through government power, and acting like laws don’t apply to him.
They warn this isn’t just hardball politics, but a threat to the system that protects everyone’s rights, and uniformly sound an alarm about how he is governing in his second term.
When presidents can deport people illegally, shut down law firms they dislike, or defy judges without consequences, it weakens the rules that prevent government abuse of power.
The courts have issued rulings. Congress has grumbled. But Trump presses on, confident that delay, defiance, and distraction will let him prevail. The question now is whether the institutions designed to restrain such overreach will hold—or whether, in the face of relentless pressure, they will crack.
The experts’ unified message is that this behavior, if left unchecked, could permanently change how America works – making the presidency more like a dictatorship where one person’s whims override laws and courts.
For regular Americans, it means the basic protections you assume will be there – free speech, fair treatment, and limits on government power – could slowly disappear.
One thing is certain: If this continues, America will soon be a very different country. And the law may no longer be what stands in the president’s way.