When I started my fellowship at the Constitutional Accountability Center in August 2024, I couldn’t have imagined how much the legal landscape would shift by the time I finished my fellowship a year later. Although that shift has come in part from a few blockbuster Supreme Court cases, much of today’s legal—and practical—reality results not from actual court rulings, but from relentless violation of norms, laws, and court orders.

For example, in the first case I worked on at CAC, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX sued the National Labor Relations Board, claiming that the Board’s Members were unconstitutionally protected from being fired by the President and that SpaceX therefore shouldn’t be subject to the Board’s investigations for numerous alleged labor law violations.

When Trump assumed office, he didn’t just force that same legal issue all the way to the Supreme Court by actually attempting to fire a member of the Board. His administration also cut off the Member’s email, building, and intranet access immediately, attempting to put his illegal termination into action before the courts even had a chance to review it.

We’ve seen the same pattern elsewhere: the administration has cut essential funds, removed people without due process, and shuttered government agencies—in each case neither asking for permission nor begging for forgiveness. The consequences of these unlawful actions have been devastating and, in some cases, will be impossible to reverse.

If something good can be said of the past six months, it is that they have thrown into sharp relief that the Constitution’s promises must depend on strong, structural checks and balances, not on the good faith of individual actors. Because sometimes, members of one branch are not acting in good faith. When that happens, the other branches—and even members of the same branch who are committed to the Constitution’s promises—have a constitutional duty to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law.

During my fellowship at CAC, I’ve witnessed members of both the judiciary and Congress do just that. For instance, we filed a brief on behalf of Members of Congress explaining why Trump’s attempts to fire Federal Trade Commissioners are illegal. These Members of Congress saw Commissioners whom they had voted to confirm for defined terms be ousted from their rightly held offices, and they filed an amicus brief opposing the attempted firings. And two weeks ago, the District Court for the District of Columbia similarly did its constitutional duty by issuing an injunction saying that FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter should be allowed to continue to do her job.

Of course, I’ve also witnessed members of all three branches of government shirk their duties in ways that threaten the wellbeing and liberty of people living in America and elsewhere. But I’m left with hope that the progressive promises of the Constitution can at least slow the flow of unconstitutional, rash policies coming down from the White House. In the past year, I’ve sat in on meetings with people dedicated to a vision of the Constitution that guarantees human dignity, corporate accountability, and democratic participation. And I’ve worked alongside the brilliant lawyers at CAC who are among the best of the best pushing that vision in courts and beyond. It has been a remarkable way to experience this year and one I won’t soon forget.