In a critical assessment of the U.S. Supreme Court’s role in 2025, court watchers argue that the justices — particularly Chief Justice John Roberts — have largely enabled President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda, weakening the judiciary’s role as a check on executive power. According to Courthouse News Service, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration in more than 80% of its emergency (shadow docket) cases, allowing sweeping actions on immigration, federal agencies, military policy, and regulatory oversight to proceed with little explanation. Legal experts and lower court judges expressed alarm at the Court’s frequent reversals of well-reasoned lower court rulings and its silence in the face of escalating political attacks and threats against judges. Critics warn that the Court’s deference to executive authority, coupled with its expansive use of the shadow docket, is eroding judicial independence and placing the constitutional system of checks and balances under serious strain, even as the justices occasionally rein in the administration on the most extreme actions.