Trump v the senior quills defending the constitution – not a walkover *Updated

The orange volcano spouting ever hotter molten lava about a ‘so called’ federal judge blocking his Muslim immigration ban as unconstitutional poses an interesting question ahead. His Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is deemed conservative on social policy but he’s a meticulous lawyer who believes that judges must strive “to apply the law as it is”. They should examine only “text, structure and history”, not personal visions of how they would like the world to look. “It seems to me that the separation of legislative and judicial powers isn’t just a formality dictated by the Constitution,” he declared. “To the founders — their separation was among the most important liberty-protecting devices of the constitutional design.” His record suggests a willingness to enforce constitutional limitations on the excesses of Congress and the president. Which is probably true of the other members. The Supreme Court may find the most pressing issues ahead focus on questions of civil liberties and the separation of powers.

The Supreme Court, 2 Feb 1790, sits very uncomfortably with Trump’s chart with its Saturn in Pisces square his Sun opposition Moon; its Uranus conjunct Trump’s Pluto; its Pluto (conjunct Sun) opposition Trump’s Mars/Pluto midpoint; and it has its very own Mars in Leo conjunct Jupiter sitting on top of Trump’s Mars Ascendant – all of which suggests it will squelch his wild enthusiasm, overturn his more draconian measures, and prove more than a match for his desire to run the USA as Emperor Caligula (who threatened to make his horse a senator.)

The relationship chart has an irritable, blocked composite Saturn square Mars; and a high-tension composite Sun opposition Neptune square Uranus. The relationship will be under considerable pressure through this year with tr Saturn square the composite Jupiter; and tr Pluto square the composite Sun in 2017/18; with heavier challenges in 2019/2020.

Neil Gorsuch, 29 Aug 1967, is a Sun, Venus, Mercury in Virgo with Pluto Uranus also conjunct in Virgo. His Uranus Pluto squares Trump’s Sun and Moon, so he’ll spring a surprise or two on his patron. The relationship chart indicates 2018/19 will be times when the gulf between them widens.

John Roberts, the Chief Justice and chief judge on the Supreme Court, also actively (though no doubt discreetly) dislikes Trump.

Trump in the past blithely ignored legal attempts to curb his business methods and brushed them aside with disdain.  He won’t find it as easy having moved up a notch or two.

It’s instructive to look back over Trump’s legal ongoings. A few months back he claimed Judge Gonzalo Curiel suffered from “an inherent conflict of interest” in the fraud case over Trump University because he was of “Mexican heritage.” Trump had to settle the lawsuits for $25m, despite bragging that he never backed away from such litigation.

One of the Trump Organization’s most senior executives, now serving the president as a lawyer, is Michael Cohen. When The Daily Beast wrote a story about Ivana Trump using the word “rape” in the context of her marriage to the now-president, Cohen’s response was less than diplomatic. “So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting,” The Daily Beast quoted him as telling its reporter. “I’m going to mess your life up … for as long as you’re on this frickin’ planet … you’re going to have judgments against you, so much money, you’ll never know how to get out from underneath it.”

Trump’s first mentor was Roy Cohn, a Republican lawyer and attack dog who served as an aide to the witch-hunting Joe McCarthy. Cohn helped elect Nixon and was later disbarred for flagrant ethics violations. He famously countersued the federal government for daring to file a civil rights lawsuit against Trump for discrimination against black tenants.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/06/donald-trump-federal-judge-immigration-order