This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.

I'm your host, Greg Sargent.

Suddenly, President Donald Trump's losses in court are really piling up on many fronts.

In just the last week or so, Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations has been blocked in court. Most of his tariffs were ruled illegal, and the judge also invalidated Trump's cancellation of grants to Harvard.

We think there's a throughline here that deserves attention. It's that judges are taking a very

hard line on Trump's use of pretexts to justify his illegal

actions. And that's critical because that use of pretexts, often incredibly absurd ones,

is essential to Trump's effort to consolidate authoritarian power. But what happens when all

this collides with the Supreme Court?

Michigan University law professor Leah Lippman wrote a book on the Supreme Court that's aptly titled, Lawless, How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe theories, and Bad Bibes.

So she's pretty well suited to explain all this to us.

Leah, thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me.

So, Leah, all these losses are pretty big, but I want to start with the Alien Enemies Act

decision because it really encapsulates the worst ways Trump is abusing power. Trump has claimed

the power under the AEA to deport Venezuelans by insisting that their presence here constitutes an invasion

or predatory incursion by a hostile foreign power, which AEA requires.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck this down pretty sharply, concluding that

an invasion or predatory incursion has not occurred on the facts. What was your takeaway from that?

I think it's a really significant loss. I mean, one thing is it happened in the U.S.

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, one of the most conservative courts in the country.

It was a majority opinion written by a Republican appointee. And as you say, this is one of his most abusive and I think chilling exercises of authority,

summarily expelling people to a foreign torture prison where they experienced severe abuse and

...