As the cases progress, and judges have issued orders halting overreach on the part of Musk and Trump, a growing chorus on the right are urging them to ignore the courts. For constitutional and government scholars, this would be a fundamental step from democracy toward autocracy.

As courts issue orders that pause or restrict a number of Trump actions, a more seismic conflict potentially lies ahead. On Monday, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that Trump is refusing to fully comply with his order to release federal grant money that the Administration tried to freeze.

No judge should, frankly, be allowed to make that kind of a decision,” President Donald Trump later told reporters on Air Force One, referring to the Treasury Department case. And on his social media platform,