By Erwin Chemerinsky / The Sacramento Bee / September 30, 2025
If there is a path toward authoritarianism for the United States, this is it. The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is just the latest outrage and effort to use the power of the federal government for the sake of retribution.
As we enter just the ninth month of President Donald Trump’s second term, it is essential to recognize that what we have seen is unprecedented in American history.
Trump, by his words and actions, has governed as if there are no checks on his authority. He quoted French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte on the social media platforms Truth Social and X, writing “He who saves the country violates no law.” At a televised press conference on August 26, the president discussed his use of troops for law enforcement, saying “(I have) the right to anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States.”
Historic presidential overreach
Trump’s assertions of presidential power are broader than any other president has claimed. No president before has ever claimed that he can fire everyone in the executive branch of government or claimed the ability to eliminate agencies created by federal statute. No president has claimed the authority to massively cut off federal spending appropriated by Congress. (President Richard Nixon impounded funds, but not nearly on this scale).
No president has attempted to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 except in declared wars. No president has invoked “emergency powers” in non-emergency situations like this, such as for tariffs and ending collective bargaining for federal employees. And no president has shown such disregard for the laws and Constitution.
Trump issued an executive order to greatly restrict birthright citizenship in clear violation of section one of the Fourteenth Amendment; he has sought to deport people without a semblance of due process; and he has violated the Posse Comitatus Act — and says he will do so again — in using American military for domestic law enforcement.
He has issued an executive order on flag burning that violates the First Amendment under two Supreme Court cases; he has attempted to regulate things beyond his power — such as voting and bail — that are left to the states; and he has explicitly said that broadcast stations that criticize him should lose their licenses.
Trump has openly used power for retribution — and the executive orders that imposed draconian sanctions on certain American law firms were explicit in stating this as their rationale. For example, the law firm Perkins Coie was subjected to severe punishment because it represented former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. Other law firms were punished because they employed former FBI Director Robert Mueller or members of his staff.
Furthermore, the investigations of New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Sen. Adam Schiff, former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook are all about retribution. Those responsible for the January 6 insurrection were pardoned, while those who prosecuted the crimes were fired.
Now, Comey has been indicted.
Trump is causing enormous harm
The president’s actions are causing enormous harm — including the loss of lives. Cutting off foreign aid to other countries has already led to starvation and death. He has called climate change a “con job,” ending federal efforts to deal with it, further putting life on the planet in jeopardy. He has terminated billions of dollars for medical research, which will have incalculable effects setting back efforts to prevent and cure diseases. And the Trump administration’s attack on vaccines is going to mean that many more will die from preventable infectious diseases.
How do we, as a society, deal with so much that is outrageous, illegal, unconstitutional and dangerous when it is happening on a daily basis? And who will stop it? Clearly those around the president — Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — are not any restraint. Nor has Congress been any check on the president.
Since January 20, the lower federal courts have issued hundreds of orders stopping illegal presidential actions. But repeatedly, the Supreme Court has reversed these orders and ruled in favor of the president. For example, in the last few months, the high court allowed the Trump administration to fire the heads of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Federal Trade Commission; to eliminate the Department of Education; to terminate grants from the National Institutes of Health; and to have U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents engage in racial profiling to stop individuals in Los Angeles.
These rulings were all 6-3 on the court’s so called “shadow docket,” often with no explanation from the court and always with strong dissents from the liberal justices.
But if the Supreme Court functions — as it has been — as a rubber stamp to approve Trump’s actions, will there be any check? And if there is no meaningful limit on what he can do, what will be left of our constitutional democracy?
As I said in a recent speech, I am neither optimistic, nor pessimistic; I am petrified for the future of American democracy in light of what has happened just in eight months. We all should be very afraid about what has happened and where this is leading.
Erwin Chemerinsky is dean and professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law, former dean at UC Irvine, and Editordude’s bar-prep instructor, 1996.
Scared indeed. The top 2% legally owning elections and political whores. The most corrupt SCOTUS in history. The 25% outFOXed living in the bubble. Free speech = free to lie. Media forced to normalize the sickest power hungry leaders. See you Oct 18th.