Perspective: The Supreme Court has opened Pandora’s box in Texas

Story by Valerie Hudson • 12h Deseret News

The current Supreme Court has staked out two portentous positions. The court has made a point of returning power to the legislative branch from the executive branch, and of returning power to the states from the federal government. Both moves have been contentious, and we are beginning to see that while each move has an upside, there’s a also downside that had previously been unforeseen. We’re seeing that play out in Texas right now.

The Supreme Court case most associated with the first move — reinforcing the power of the legislative branch vis a vis the executive — was West Virginia v. EPA, and there is an important new case pending that is liable to go in the same direction. The court has argued that the agencies of the executive branch are not free to make important policy decisions and regulations without explicit legislative approval. While on the one hand, I’d argue that this is an overdue correction by the Supreme Court, we have begun to see the unforeseen problem is that the executive branch might decide to simply ignore the rulings entirely.

President Joe Biden’s dismissal of federal student loan debt, despite the Supreme Court ruling blocking the same, is a harbinger of the real threat here. In a context where there is a divided Congress, what power is there to enforce this ruling of the judicial branch against the executive branch? None, apparently. There appears to be absolutely nothing stopping the executive branch from plowing ahead in the face of Supreme Court opposition.

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