From New York Times opinion, I'm Ross Douthat, and this is Interesting Times. President Trump has been testing the limits of presidential power since he returned to office,

from his assertion of total control over federal agencies to now his undeclared war with Iran.

But so far, many of Trump's most aggressive moves have ended in defeat, usually in the courts

and increasingly at the Supreme Court.

And it may be that a key revelation of his second term is that the judicial branch is the

real power center in American democracy right now.

That's the argument of this week's guest, Sarah Isger, a conservative court watcher, a lawyer,

and the author of the new book Last Branch Standing. I wanted to talk to her about Trump's

power grabs, the internal politics of the court, and whether we should be reassured

or troubled that it takes an imperial judiciary to counter an imperial presidency with Congress

out of the picture.

Sarah Isker, welcome to interesting times.

Thanks for having me.

So we're going to talk about the Supreme Court, the divisions within the court, its influence

over American politics, and the future of the Constitution, really. We're going to get to some

big questions, but we're going to start where all things must start with President Donald

J. Trump and executive power. Because in, we're going to start where all things must start with President Donald J. Trump

and executive power. Because we're about a year and a few months into the second Trump administration,

and in the first three to six months of the administration, all anyone wanted to talk about

with constitutional questions was just how much power his administration was consolidating

in all kinds of different domains. And I want to give you a chance to talk about where that

revolution stands, how successful has been his attempt to remake the presidency's powers.

...