Littwin: Lawsuits against Trump et al are flying fast and furious. Colorado AG Phil Weiser is among those on the case.

Three weeks into the Trump restoration, we are facing many questions, but these may be among the most critical:  Are we heading toward a constitutional crisis? Or are we already there?

I would answer yes. And yes.

The constitutional crisis is already at hand and the crisis we’re heading toward could be the most serious we’ve faced since the Civil War. That’s not hyperbole. It’s clear to anyone who wishes to see.

It’s as clear as recent statements from Vice President JD Vance and Shadow President Elon Musk, with Vance declaring, “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”

Vance has been saying for years that Trump can and should defy court orders. Musk, of course, is ready to defy anything and everything. Meanwhile, one judge has said that Trump is defying his ruling — “the plain text,” as Judge John J. McConnell Jr. called it — to unfreeze billions in federal funds, including $570 million that Coloradans have been unable to access, according to Gov. Jared Polis and Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper.

And Trump has said the latest ruling against him — that DOGE minions don’t belong in the Treasury Department, vacuuming up personal info on the rest of us — was “crazy,” and that “no judge should frankly be allowed to make that kind of decision. It’s a disgrace.”

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So there we are.

In a New York Times article about the looming — or perhaps already arrived — constitutional crisis, many law professors weighed in, including this from Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC-Berkeley law school.

“We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis right now,” he said on Friday. “There have been so many unconstitutional and illegal actions in the first 18 days of the Trump presidency. We never have seen anything like this.”

The resistance, as I’ve mentioned a few times, to Trump’s unprecedented power grab is still pretty feeble. Democrats are finally being roused, but, with little power in Congress, there isn’t much they can do besides find a way to help people understand just how serious this is.

So far, they haven’t found the secret formula. Trump’s approval ratings, according to polls, are in positive territory, despite his blitzkrieg against governmental norms. And even Musk’s polling is improving.

But one loosely aligned group — composed of Democratic attorneys general, including Colorado’s Phil Weiser — has responded quickly, along with labor unions, activist groups, the ACLU, religious groups and others. By several counts, more than 40 lawsuits have been filed against Trump’s executive orders and against Musk and his Musketeers for running roughshod over legal statutes and the Constitution itself.

The AGs and others have won some early victories — here’s a timeline from Forbes on the status of the major lawsuits — including temporary restraining orders against some of the most egregious violations. But while the lawsuits are coming fast and furious — they vitally need to be filed and, more importantly, to be heard — this is the legal system we’re talking about. It’s designed to move slowly, and it will.

If the temporary restraining orders eventually turn into real victories at the district court level, the rulings will be appealed and then, whichever side wins, some of the cases will likely go to the Supreme Court for a final ruling, which may or may not turn out to be final because Trump may or may not obey the court. 

That’s when the constitutional crisis would hit hardest. 

On Tuesday, I spoke to Weiser —the six-year Colorado AG who has announced he’s running for governor in 2026 when Polis will be term limited — about the strategy in bringing lawsuits against Trump et al and what worries him most about the situation we find ourselves in.

To this point, Weiser has joined other like-minded AGs in lawsuits challenging many of the dangerous places Trump and Musk have taken us. Here’s a list from the Colorado Sun. It starts with Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship and goes to Monday’s suit against cutting funds for the National Institutes of Health. More will be on the way. And soon.

In the last 24 hours — as of this writing on Tuesday — judges have ruled six times against Trump et al.

”It’s a lot,” Weiser said of the lawsuits, noting that they come in addition to the normal duties of the attorney general’s office. “But we knew a lot of what was coming.”

Weiser said he had read Project 2025, that he had paid attention to what Trump was saying in the days and weeks leading up to his inauguration, that he and his team at the AG’s office had experience from Trump’s first term, and that he and other AGs are in constant communication.

While saying it’s a “difficult time for the rule of law,” Weiser said there was some good news — that he and many of the other AGs “are not new at this … and have muscle memory from Trump’s first term.”

How good the news will be, of course, is yet to be seen. When I asked Weiser what most worries him, he said it was the distinct possibility that Trump would defy adverse Supreme Court rulings.

”Let’s talk about Trump’s birthright citizenship order,” Weiser said. “Let’s say the Supreme Court says that the language of the 14th Amendment is exactly what it says it is — and that Trump can’t override that. 

“But what happens if he sends ICE to deport newborn American citizens, in defiance of the Supreme Court? Then we have a full-blown crisis.”

Anything close to that level of presidential defiance hasn’t been seen in more than a century, not since Andrew Jackson defied the court, saying in 1832, “John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.”

You could imagine Trump saying something very much like that. Breaking the government, after all, is very much the point of all his norm breaking. 

The current Supreme Court, brought to you by an obscene partnership between Mitch McConnell and Trump, is the most conservative in years. There’s a reasonable chance — and another possibility to fear — that the court will completely cave to Trump, or, more likely, it would split the baby, deciding a few cases for Trump and a few against him. It could also, when deciding against Trump, leave in a few loopholes as escape hatches. We’ve seen it happen before.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, both conservatives, have strayed at times from the conservative 6-3 majority to deliver a rebuke to Trump. But how likely is it that they’ll stand up to Trump repeatedly? Have the bookmakers weighed in on this? I’m betting the odds are very much against.

The best news may be that it’s physically impossible for the Supreme Court to take on all the cases against Trump heading its way.

In any case, though, the Supreme Court is not going to save us. That’s not how it works. Even if some of the rulings do come down against Trump, they would likely be made after much of the damage has already been done. And then, of course, there is the matter of Trump’s possible defiance.

And, at that point, what can we do? 

I asked Weiser. He said Congress, including Republicans, would have to stand up to Trump and that the blowback from the people — including some who voted for Trump —  would have to be so overpowering that Trump couldn’t ignore it.

Weiser said it would be “a test of our Republic.”

He’s right. But is there any reason at this stage to believe we’ll pass it? 

Mike Littwin has been a columnist for too many years to count. He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow. Sign up for Mike’s newsletter.

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