Toward completing Project 2025; 8 thousand civil service fedral employees just became political appointees

 It was not enough that Trump got away with appointing incompetent cabinet members, placing loyalty to him not only as one criterion but as the most important qualification.  However, I had been puzzled why the architect of Project 2025 had not done this earlier, abusing Schedule F, to make sure those just below cabinet level would also be loyal to DJT. For whatever reason, Russell Vought, not only the theorist but the executioner with the power, as Director of Management and Budget, did it just now, though he called it another name.

. This is mob boss and big city corrupt mayor behavior. 

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2026/06/trump-moves-about-8000-federal-positions-to-schedule-policy-career/

 Those 8 thousand below the cabinet level and down several layers are the ones who actually get stuff done and who have been protected from being fired because they disagreed with processes, policies, and orders that violated oaths and the rule of law and were science-fact believers.  What it means to those who have a grievance or a favor to ask of a federal bureaucrat, be sure to ben the knee to Trump now and pray your social media accounts have been scrubbed of anything blue..  This is mob boss and big city corrupt mayor behavior that has largely been stopped until now by the reform movement of years past, fueled by the incompetence and corruption of government staffed by political hacks.  

From my February 2, 2026, blog posting on the subject:Trump administration plans to reclassify 50,000 federal workers, making them easier to fire | CNN Politics

Russell Vought and Trump are pulling the Project 2025 schedule F trigger

 Trump tried it before and failed. He is trying it again. In the name of ending the deep state, Project 2025, the blueprint for the authoritarian takeover of the federal government, proposed once again to eliminate civil service protection from political pressure, and instead, to make civil service employees subject to loyalty tests to the President in the Oval Office by reclassifying their positions. Vought was one of the authors of Project 2025, and Trump appointed him to manage the federal government personnel office known as the Office of Management and Budget.

That is the most destabilizing, power-grabbing, corruption-spawning act one can imagine.  Since early in the last century, when the good government reform movement gained steam,  state and local governments have tried to reform corrupt practices of big bosses by removing government bureaucrats from judgment call pressures based on political control. It makes them subject to appointment and removal actions that do not consider job performance and qualifications for their positions.  Appointment to government positions has always been a power play tool for the mayor, the government, and now the presidency, to have as many political positions to fill as they can. It subverts 50 years' worth of good government reforms, and some see it at the Trumpist level, a threat to democracy itself. The Schedule F Threat to Democracy: A Project 2025 Explainer - Kettering Foundation

Orban's defeat is a win for US pro Democracy movements

There are lessons to be learned, but Orban's defeat is a boost to pro-democracy movements and inspires efforts underway in the US to restore the kind of democracy we once had.

After  16 years, the people of Hungary had had enough of autocracy.  It took 16 years for the grassroots to get around Viktor Orban's total control of the media and a pro-Russian foreign policy.   What does this mean for America's resistance to a political party and MAGA's attempt to establish a unitary form of government to replace the Constitutional constraints against an all-powerful executive branch chief? 

There are some lessons to learn from Hungary's experience.  So enamored has MAGA been of the "strong leader"  unitary model for political domination that the powerful Conservative Political Action PAC (CPAC) has held meetings in Hungary, and Orban has been a featured speaker at their conventions. Much of the thrust of an Orban-type autocracy was also part of the plan to de facto turn the US into their one-party rule by a concerted effort to replace the federal government's rank and file with loyalists to Trump,  white Christian ideologues, and wealthy cronies..They succeeded without rewriting the Constitution by putting the authors and advocates of Project  2025 in charge of personnel and appointments and in the White House staff itself with the election of Trump in 2024 to a second term..  

The Achilles heel of autocracies is corruption. Rule by one person or a small group enables corruption because it removes checks on the avarice, greed, and pocket-stuffing of the rich and fawning supporters and cronies.  Such political and governmental power in one hand enables a leader to neglect the financial well-being of even those they purport to support. It is felt by the masses when the autocrat has priorities other than those he governs, from concerns about the cost of living to the negative impact on their own lives of foreign military adventurism, or being aligned with another similar autocracy, like Putin's. Hungary's standard of living, once comfortable, had declined under Orban, making it one of the poorest countries in Europe.   Overt and unchecked corruption had become the signature of the Orban regime. https://www.princetonpoliticalreview.org/international-news/viktor-orbns-hungary-corruption-repression-amp-democratic-backsliding.  This may also sound familiar to observers of Trump 1 and II.

 It is emerging as an awareness in the US of it happening here, to some extent. But there is also a growing realization that autocrats think they can get away with ignoring promises to make life more affordable, as their leaders feather their own nests with wealth and power. This awareness is reflected in plunging approval ratings for Trump and his unpopular public policies.  

The link of who controls the power, the people or an autocrat who is self-promoting and self-indulging, is this: Autocracy enables the needs of the rank and file citizens to be ignored. Trump is acting like one who assumes he has already seized the reins of the federal government and he can get away with anything, including enriching himself and his family members while using his power to punish and suppress any opposition.  

The good news coming from Hungary for those who want to restore the power. of Congress and bolster the judiciary to check the corrupt and vengeful can inspire the grassroots and populace to rise up without violence and restore the democratic antidote. Hungary just did it. It just takes a long time for it to happen; 16 years in Hungary.(In America, the time frame has been more like a year or two for CPAC and Project 2025 to establish an Orban-type rule.) For Hungarians,  it took a grassroots, door-to-door effort by a nation that once was  prosperous and had seen its standard of living decline as the corruption of the rulers became more evident despite media control. 

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/russell-vought-and-trump-pulling.htmlcontrol.  It was a merging of an Individual NO KINGS-type movement and the organization of citizens through word of mouth and door-to-door. 

We have a template for similar revolts in the US. It was Minneapolis and a citizens' revolt against ICE. The citizens were inspired to act as they did because it was not just an argument over legal theory but a revolt against the methods ICE used that trampled on the human and civil rights of all immigrants. and thenselves.  It was a matter of moral outrage and the unfairness of the treatment of all residents, regardless of race, religion, or immigration status. Its citizens had had enough of the fascist type paramilitary actions of ICE and organized in many ways, using many techniques to be successful.

 What is also evident with Orban's defeat is that it is easier to nip a wannabe autocracy in the bud before it seizes more control of the reins of government, because once in control, it is much harder to effect regime change. It takes time and mass realizations by citizens that they have been played.

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/12/list-or-particulars-how-trump-has.html.  How Trump has accumulated dictatorial powers in 11 months

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/russell-vought-and-trump-   How Project 2025 now runs the executive branch

Exploring CPAC's love affair with Viktor Orban https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-orban-playbook-and-if-it-would-work.html

   

Russell Vought and Trump: pulling the Project 2025 schedule F trigger

Trump administration plans to reclassify 50,000 federal workers, making them easier to fire | CNN Politics

Russell Vought and Trump are pulling the Project 2025 schedule F trigger

 Trump tried it before and failed. He is trying it again. In the name of ending the deep state, Project 2025, the blueprint for the authoritarian takeover of the federal government, proposed once again to eliminate civil service protection from political pressure, and instead, to make civil service employees subject to loyalty tests to the President in the Oval Office by reclassifying their positions. Vought was one of the authors of Project 2025, and Trump appointed him to manage the federal government personnel office known as the Office of Management and Budget.

That is the most destabilizing, power-grabbing, corruption-spawning act one can imagine.  Since early in the last century, when the good government reform movement gained steam,  state and local governments have tried to reform corrupt practices of big bosses by removing government bureaucrats from judgment call pressures based on political control. It makes them subject to appointment and removal actions that do not consider job performance and qualifications for their positions.  Appointment to government positions has always been a power play tool for the mayor, the government, and now the presidency, to have as many political positions to fill as they can. It subverts 50 years' worth of good government reforms, and some see it at the Trumpist level, a threat to democracy itself.The Schedule F Threat to Democracy: A Project 2025 Explainer - Kettering Foundation

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Chainsaw 1 and Chainsaw 2 : Fulfilling Russell Vought's Project 2025 dreams

Going bonkers: MAGA claims our republic is not a democracy anyway

 Going bonkers: MAGA claims our republic is not a democracy anyway so his power grabs are OK?Poli sci 101: we are both a republic and a democracy, called a representative democracy. It is still based upon the vote of the people. It is not either/ or. Trump supports neither. He thinks and acts like an autocrat, thinking he can do whatever he wants, including ignoring or controlling the other two branches of government and attempting to overturn or control ballot results he does not like. 

Benjamin Franklin defined the new Constitutional form of government as a Republic..with a warning, "If we can keep it." I just ran across a fb posting by a MAGA loyalist that claimed a republic is not a democracy. Sorry, Ben, we are both a republic and a democracy: We are a representative democracy. My guess this"we are a republic; we are not a democracy" was a bonkers attempt to rationalize a power grab by a president as being ok, approved by the Constitution. It is not okay.  The subversion of our form of a republic/representative democracy is underway in the Trump regime, as administration officials attempt to turn a republic de facto into an autocracy in front of our half-open eyes. That is open defiance of the definition of "democracy" itself as rule by the people, which means, either through their elected representatives or directly by popular vote. . In fact, the standard definition of a republic is it is a form of representative democracy. In theory,  a republic is still responsive to the people who elect their representatives. We have a representative democracy. That is poli sci 101.  What Trump is trying to do is have America be neither a republic nor a democracy. He is trying to be an autocrat...rule by one, himself, treating his executive orders as laws to be obeyed,  ignoring or controlling Congress and the lower judiciary, while subverting the election processes.     He played a major role in the attempted coup on January 6 to overturn the 2020 election. And now he ordered state GOPs to gerrymander states to get more Congressional seats for his party in 2026 and to diminish minority racial representation.

Getting in the poli sci weeds:

In America, it is both: a republic and a democracy per this learned discussion.“Democracy” vs. “Republic”: Is There A Difference? | Dictionary.com " For all practical purposes, it’s both. In everyday speech and writing, you can safely refer to the US as a democracy or a republic. If you want or need to be more precise in referring to the system of the US, you can accurately call it a representative democracy. And should you need to be exacting? The US can be called a federal presidential constitutional republic or a constitutional federal representative democracy." James Madison tried to define a republic as being different than a democracy (which he defined as mob rule), but in Federalist 39 he said that the republic still had to get its authority from broad masses, not a knot of elites  . Another of many other sources: We are a blend of both a republic and a democracy: Was the United States Founded as a Republic or a Democracy? - Colonial Williamsburg

 If there was anything our founders feared, and the reason for the revolution, was to keep America free of a tyrannical king...or any other tyrannical ruler. Madison feared a resurgence of a king-like ruler and was instrumental in shaping  a constitution to guard against that: dividing power among three branches with checks on each other. There was an anti-emoluments clause to head off bribery.. To add more balance, the Bill of Rights was added as a compromise to protect citizen rights.  A case can be made that  Trump can be seen as a wannabe tyrant, uprooting even those fundamental barriers to give himself the power of a tyrant/King. That case follows:

 The Trump regime pretends it is still a democracy when it is doing what it can to subvert it. and to remove the democratic elements or even ignore the support of the broad masses because it has such power. Nevermind the representatives elected by voters are forced to represent the interests of the wannabe dictator and not the interests of their constituents who elected them. Nevermind the Trump regime uses its DOJ as an instrument for him to rule by fear and favor. Never mind the independent judiciary rulings Trump does not like are placed on ice as Trump awaits appeals from "his" 6-3 Supreme Court. 

Trump's own chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was quoted as saying that Trump believes" he can do whatever he wants" in an interview published by Vanity Fair.  Of all the quotations in that interview, that one was the one that was the most frightening. We voters should not be shocked that a person occupying the Oval Office with that kind of megalomaniacal attitude fancies himself a dictator and acts like an autocrat by abusing his power. He is getting away with it so far. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: List of particulars: How Trump has consolidated his dictatorial powers in eleven months

. A unitary government, the purpose and the blueprint for enactment by Project 2025,  is for a president to act like the legislature and judiciary, as well as the administrator,all rolled into one big hammer..  Unitary executive, the term used by proponents of Projet 2025, is just a fancy word for autocracy/dictatorship. It is  just like what CPAC  admores about Hungary and this conservative action pac promoted it by even holding their meetings there.. The form of the three branches might still exist in name and form, but the control of them actually lies in the hands of a president who ignores the rule of law, abuses power, instills fear with threats against anyone who fails to comply, and appoints sycophants in place of nonpartisan technocrats to keep the administration disciplined. The author of Project 2025, Russell Vought, is now in charge of federal employees, forcing resignation or firing those not loyal to Trump. Trump has already become the de facto dictator who issues clearly unconstitutional executive orders that he expects to be treated like a law passed by a democratic process, which they are not. 

The rule of law is being replaced by the rule of Trump. He appeals lower court rulings he does not like to "his" 6-3 Supreme Court ad nauseam and ad infinitum. He has virtually neutered the power of lower courts, as "his" Supreme Court overturns lower court rulings on a regular basis, often using a shadow docket that issues rulings without any hearings or public airing of the issues. What Trump has threatened to do to the First Amendment is a whole other subject, but his attempt to sue and force broadcast media to bow to his demands under the threat of losing their licenses at the hands of a compliant head of the FCC is the most recent example of attacks on press freedom this fall. Due process and minority rights are attacked daily in immigration and anti DEI measures and gerrymandering he himself orders.

Supreme Court Shadow Docket Tracker — Challenges to Trump Administration Actions | Brennan Center for Justice

The Supreme Court uses its "

shadow docket" for emergency rulings, often with little explanation, impacting major issues. 

Key Examples & Issues per an AI search::

• Immigration: Allowing the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans in Noem v. National TPS Alliance.
• Religious Freedom: Blocking New York's COVID-19 capacity limits for religious services in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo.
• Environmental Policy: Reinstating a Trump-era rule limiting state authority over river contamination in Louisiana v. American Rivers.
• Death Penalty: Halting lower court injunctions to allow executions, such as in Purkey v. Ohio.
• Executive Actions: Enabling the Trump administration to enforce its policies, like passport rules in Trump v. Orr and workforce reduction plans.
• State Laws: Allowing Alabama's racially gerrymandered congressional map to stand temporarily. 

What the Shadow Docket Is:

• It refers to emergency applications and summary orders decided quickly, often without full briefing or oral arguments.
• Decisions are usually unsigned and lack detailed reasoning, but have immediate real-world effects. 

Why It Matters:

• The Court has used it at an increasing rate, bypassing its normal, transparent process.
• It allows the Court to make significant policy shifts (e.g., on abortion, environmental rules, immigration) without granting full review. 

• Supreme Court Shadow Docket Tracker — Challenges to Trump Administration Actions | Brennan Center for Justice

  Oct 20, 2025 — The Supreme Court's shadow docket is a procedure for hearing emergency applications. Shadow docket cases typically inv...

  

  Brennan Center for Justice

  

List of particulars: How Trump has consolidated his dictatorial powers in eleven months

List or particulars: How Trump has consolidated his dictatorial, king-like powers in eleven months. In the Declaration of Independence, the colonists listed their objection to the king acting like a tyrant. Here is my list. This has been a firehose of many different steps he has taken to destroy the fundamental foundations of our Constitutional democracy...so much so, those of us supporting democracy are so involved in the outrage du jour, we lose track of the total picture and get caught up in the news story of the day.  Update 1/20/2026: Update 1 20 2026: A comprehensive report of how Trump and conservative GOP leaders are turning America into a unitary form of governement. (Unitary form: all power to the executive with eliminating checks and balances of the legislature and judiciary...( That in my view is a polite description of an autocracy) Trump Tests Presidential Power: Venezuela Operation, Iran Bombing and More - The New York Times 

Trump is in the process of building his own paramilitary force. He is invoking wartime powers to deport people without due process, even suggesting that American citizens may be sent to foreign prisons. He has deployed National Guard troops to cities over the objections of local officials. That one is still being contested in the Courts, though lower courts have generally ruled against the Trump position. Trump has signaled that he is open to invoking the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that allows the president to deploy the military in the United States. And he has claimed, without legal justification, that he has the right to order the military to summarily kill people suspected of smuggling drugs on boats off the coast of South America.  This one is the hot one on the burner now.

The  firing of the JAGs is just one element of a broader purge of the military, which started at the beginning of Trump’s second term in February, five former defense secretaries, including James Mattis,

In fact, we were warned that this and other purges would happen in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. 2025 was a blueprint for two purposes: rule by white Christian nationalists and enable it by making the president a virtual dictator by replacing executive branch civil servants with political appointees pledged to the cause.  So far, 2025 is on track. The telltale phrase was the destruction of DEI throughout, and the proponents were devotees of a unitary form of government with all power in the executive branch. The chief author of 2025 was Russell Vought, whom Trump appointed as Director of Management and Budget ( and personnel) with the power to carry out the purges. The 2025 plan was to do away with supervisory civil service positions and make the positions political. That was not done, and instead, positions and whole agencies were eliminated in addition to purges. All during 2025, the Heritage Foundation was vetting for ideological purity the potential appointees to replace civil servants. All has not gone as planned since the incompetence of replacements has resulted in amateurish mistakes that have backfired on the administration itself. https://thehill.com/opinion/5059017-trump-cabinet-nominees-unqualified

Trump views himself as the final arbiter of the legality of anything he does. An executive order he signed in February says, “The President and the Attorney General’s opinions on questions of law are controlling on all employees in the conduct of their official duties. No employee of the executive branch acting in their official capacity may advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes the President or the Attorney General’s opinion on a matter of law.” For greater detail, go to MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: How Trump is destroying the rule of law, replacing it with the rule of Trump

Trump is suggesting that the Federal Communications Commission should revoke the licenses of television broadcasters that give him too much “bad publicity” and is suing major newspapers and networks.  The 6-3Trump Supreme Court is expected to rule that all independent agencies will no longer be independent and will be comprised of the partisans of the president.  That will affect the FCC, as well as the FDA and FTC.

Trump has pressured the Department of Justice to target, indict, and destroy those he considers to be his political enemiesTrump has pressured the Department of Justice to target, indict, and destroy those he considers to be his political enemies. Ask Letitia James and Jim Comey how those attempts have bit the dust.  Nonetheless, even the act of charging it regardless of the outcome in courts is a painful hammer. To say this is an abuse of power is an understatement.

Trump has usurped the Congressional powers to levy across-the-board non-security-related tariffs. The Supreme Court has heard the arguments, but there is no hurry to decide. Cosco has filed a heavyweight lawsuit on this matter, but in the meantime, the tariffs continue.  This is an abuse of power that has repercussions on consumer affordability and even the ability of some to stay in business.  This one may not set well with the conservative members of the Supreme Court who are, in their ideological hearts, free traders.

Trump has violated the civil rights of migrants with warrantless detentions and racial profiling. Colorado has gotten a lower Federal court decision to stop the ICE practice...but no doubt the 6-3 Supreme Court may weigh in. Federal judge restricts how ICE can arrest people in Colorado, calling past conduct ‘unlawful’ - The Journal

The Supreme Court is now the main force in replacing democracy with a dictatorship

 Revised and updated from the original post to reflect SCOTUS use of the emergency docket to give Trump even more power 10//8/2025.

Attorney General Pam Bondi's arrogant and disgusting performance before the Senate oversight committee yesterday, where she refused to answer any questions posed by Democrats, may have pleased Trump and MAGA, but it is an example of how Congress has lost its independence and how far this country has gone in its failure to stop Trump's power grab to end democracy and replace it with rule by him. The more responsible culprit in this end of democracy is the 6-3 Supreme Court. Both branches of the federal government have been complicit in giving Trump the power he seeks but the more consequential has been the 6-3 Supreme Court.. What can be done about that?

The Supreme Court's legacy will be" they killed off democracy' unless they start putting their feet down against Trump's power grab. If they continue to fail, what can voters do about it? Trump's "I can do anything I want" attitude had at first been fed by the friendly Supreme Court ruling that he cannot be prosecuted for a crime while in office, and recent 6-3 Court decisions. Those are now on full display and a matter of public record. Trump is now consolidating power and seeking more, acting and ruling as if he is already a dictator, with little in sight to stop him. The Court, if supporting this ideological direction, a unitary government, is the chief force causing the replacement of democracy of, by and for the people, with an autocracy, dictatorship, or "king". a government of, by, and for the president, and it is laying the groundwork for its own irrelevancy. It is time to educate the public about the dangers of the supporters of a unitary government that destroys checks and balances that protect us from such dictatorships and tyrannies. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: A case can be made that the Supreme Court is replacing democracy with fascism

Update: 10/22/25 https://www.msn.com/.../a-new-supreme.../ar-AA1OU5bX...  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/a-new-supreme-court-case-could-turn-the-national-guard-into-trump-s-personal-army/ This is scary..and well on its way toward a fascist type of rule and militarization by the feds...endangering free and fair elections, to boot. In addition, ICE has a paramilitary force that is trained, equipped, and resembles a military, but it is not required to swear an oath to the Constitution, unlike the US military. What if a deranged Trump wanted to try a coup in 2028 and unleashed them both or even just one, to accomplish this. I would not put it past him...since he has been signaling he wants a third term. The Supreme Court seems to be in Trump's pocket on the national guard issue...I am not optimistic. What to know about efforts to block National Guard deployments in Chicago, Portland, other US cities

Continuing with original post:

The challenge to those in opposition to Trump the Dictator is putting this into simple, understandable language that gets this across, and then harnessing voters in 2026 to put a stop to this. The best the opposition can do is to put it in terms of: Trump and MAGA are destroyers of democracy, replacing it with a dictatorship with ONE UNITARY-Branch led by a president with no limits to power... Stop him in 2026. Restore the independence of Congress and change its leadership. The Court should also be called out for their complicity and pressure them by asking if their heritage they want to leave for history is their failure to save democracy and their causing the demise of the independent judiciary branch. Surely there are a couple more than the three opposition justices who would care about their legacy.

How is this happening? It is the culmination of efforts by ultra-conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society to end a government with checks and balances, and put all of the control of government in the executive's hands. This is called the "unitary" form of government, reducing the judiciary and legislative branches to supportive roles of the executive. In short, making this a country ruled by an autocrat, a dictator, a "king", in sheer defiance of the intent and construction of the Constitution we have known for 250 years.

Over half the country opposes this kind of autocracy per any poll and Trump's recent comments have painted all those oppose him as the enemies within ...sheer insanity, delusional, and dangerous, but only we the voters still have the power in 2026 to end it, since Congress and even the Supreme court dominated by MAGA are in his pocket.

So far, the 6-3 Supreme Court has lived up to the expectations of those think tanks by siding with the "unitary", all-powerful "president" whenever the issue was before them. The Court needs to be challenged and called out for its bias, which will end democracy as we know it. More cases will be before them soon and into 2026 to give the opportunity to educate the voters on what and who is responsible. The Court, if supporting the unitary government replacement of democracycracy of, by and for the people, is laying the groundwork for its own powerless irrelevancy.

There is a method of enacting an ideology in the madness: it is called the unitary form of government executive, which does more than make the president in total control of agencies and people in the executive branch. It also defangs checks and balances, making Congress and the courts powerless. This permits the president to act like a dictator or, in kinder terms, a strong man. In messaging to the public, that needs to be made the object of focus, the enemy of democracy, so to speak. It is a concerted effort of the right that embraces this "unitary government" to give the president unlimited power, which dictators crave. The role the Supreme Court majority plays in making this happen is documented in this: The Supreme Court is headed toward a radically new vision of unlimited presidential power

Now the Court has used its emergency docket to give Trump more power, again and again. The Supreme Court's heritage could be known as the enabler of the end of democracy, of, by, and for the people, and instead gives the permission slip to a power-hungry president, allowing it to become a government of, by, and for Trump. This emergency docket permits snap decisions to be made without hearing oral arguments. The record since Trump took office in nearly every instance, granting Trump what he wants and, in effect, giving Trump more power. The ultimate culprit of enabling the death of democracy is the death is the Supreme Court, especially stuffed with Justices who seem to be fellow travelers of the ideology as screened and given a stamp of approval by far-right think tanks. The rule of law is being replaced by the rule of a single branch of government and its head, the president in the persona of Donald Trump, and those who may follow him

Per a Reuters report:"Since Trump returned to office on January 20, the court has acted in 23 cases on an emergency basis involving his policies, siding with him fully or partially 21 times, with one case declared moot."  The Reuters report describes the 21 cases involved. 

"In doing so, the court has expanded how it uses its emergency power, following at least six different legal paths to side with Trump, usually in decisions powered by the conservative justices, '"  Reuters.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/us-supreme-court-expands-its-emergency-docket-and-trump-s-power-too/ar-AA1NJjwA?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=68deb373afa44e1a9cd7703e9cd7372a&ei=8

Over the years, during and since Trump's first term, the GOP Senate leadership has managed to install a Court dominated by ideologues of various extreme think tanks, such as those favored by the Heritage Foundation and the Foundation, the originators of Project 2025, screened \for ideological purity. In the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to pick justices approved by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation. The GOP-dominated Senate engineered a way to make this happen by refusing to consider Democratic backed nominees, denying them to even get a hearing, waiting until a time when their nominees would be approved and supported by a GOP majority.

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2017-05-01/trump-next-supreme-court-nominee-will-come-from-conservative-list#:~:text=At%20the%20height%20of%20the,grass%2Droots%20and%20establishment%20Republicans.

With this kind of control by ideologues who want a unitary or much stronger executive branch, no wonderTrump feels comfortable he can gamble by letting "his' Supreme Court decide whether his power grabs have gone too far. In the upcoming session, the Supreme Court will decide whether its 6-0 majority, with a recent track record of usually granting the power he desires whenever the issue is before it, will continue to do so. Three major decisions will be looming, if not more, that will decide if the Court caves to his power grab or not. There are some crucial tipping point decisions soon before the Supreme Court this fall. With such power in his hands, Trump has the luxury of being able to ignore the economic needs of those who voted for him and other campaign promises made in 2024, especially those thinking that he would reduce their cost of living. 

This is a Supreme Court, comprising those with a 6-3 Trump-favoring majority, packed over recent years with ideologues who are presumed to be loyal to the concept of a more powerful executive branch, a unitary system that undermines checks on executive power. They were screened by "conservative" think tanks like the Federalist Society for their tilt before they were nominated, and their Senate approval process was strategized by GOP leadership to prevent even other nominees from being considered. 

Those who have advocated for years for the extremist goal of turning the executive branch into a "unitary" government, which is another term for eliminating the checks and balances that Congress and the Judiciary once had, is a goal of the Heritage Foundation. Until the emergence of Trumpism and Trump himself, who seeks to accumulate more power and wealth for himself (no secret at all), the inclination of the Court was to prevent a wannabe from becoming a full-blown dictator. They are now in control of the appointments to keep power positions, and fellow traveler Trump is using the hammer of a totally politicized justice department to threaten and control past and present "enemies".

 The goals of the Heritage Foundation in the 2024 elections were also no secret. It was in print and online, available for all to read.  The irony is that the name of this foundation is not a reflection of the democratic heritage of the republic founded by our forefathers, but rather the opposite. It has been the promotion of the executive branch's power, aiming to turn it into a form of dictatorship, while maintaining the form of checks and balances, yet subverting the judiciary's and legislature's ability to effectively check the executive branch's power. The founders of our Republic warned us against exactly what Trump is trying to do and set up a form of government that kept the executive branch in check, giving the power of the purse to Congress, and an executive branch that was concerned about whether laws or governmental actions were in keeping with the intent of the Constitution. The Supreme Court and the independent judiciary were tasked with ruling on whether laws conformed to the Constitution. The duties of the executive branch were outlined in the "take care" clauses throughout the document.

 It was the rule of law, not the rule of a king, a tyrant, foreign or domestic, that shaped the founders in devising the Constitution in 1789. Kings and tyrants were to be feared and prevented. That is the heritage we have, not the one the Heritage Foundation's deceptively named think tank supports and now dominates the Trump administration, in tune with their leader, who also wants to be an autocrat, too. (Autocrat: another name for a dictator, as "autocrat" sounds to a degree to be less all-powerful or threatening). 

  Trump is now consolidating his power in various ways that resemble those of a dictator, testing the limits of his authority until the Supreme Court intervenes.  He has indicated he will stand by what the Supreme Court rules, but on that promise, we should not trust, as he has a history of breaking promises to get elected. (i.e., I will reduce your cost of living, end the Ukraine war on day one). Instead he has been obsessed and consumed by getting revenge and frightening with threats into keeping mouths shut or into actual verbal compliance with his purposes

.Now Trump is hell bent by tariffs, labor shortages due to mass deportation, and making sure everyone in government or receiving federal funds, top to bottem is loyal to him but not to the empty pledges of loyalty oaths to the constitution, his attempt to put the federal governent in control of tabulation and methods of voting instead of the states, his attempted firing of officials of once hands off independent agencies, his trampling of civil rights and due process, his attempt to frighten so many into subservience to him by using his department of justice to launch investigations without probable cauise except for the crime of being disloyal to him. and his ordering state governors to rediscrt to give him continued control of the House..  

Update: 9 9 2025. The 6-3 Supreme Court just gave the green light to ICE to snatch people off the street because they look Hispanic and sound Hispanic. It is racial profiling, pure and simple. I am disgusted. The voice of dissent, Justice Sotomayor, wrote:"We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low-wage job," she wrote. "Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent." Trump's Supreme Court is chipping away at civil rights with no explanation other than "it's not our job to set immigration enforcement policy," and we need to call them out. That should send a chill through anyone who does not look white.

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: A case can be made that the Supreme Court is replacing democracy with fascism

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: So is Trump now appealing for the pro dictator vote while he says he is not one?

 The Supreme Court has expanded Trump’s power. He’s seeking much more.

Full List as Supreme Court Rules for Donald Trump 15 Times in a Row - Newsweek

Supreme Court Keeps Ruling in Trump’s Favor, but Doesn’t Say Why - The New York Times

Project 2025 Tracker | 

Meet the powerful group behind Trump’s judicial nominations   about the Federalist Society

McConnell went 'nuclear' to confirm Gorsuch. But Democrats changed Senate filibuster rules first.