How decades of Supreme Court decisions eroding personal freedoms could play into Trump's hands - Velshi - MSNBC

[Rhiannon12866]

A series of Supreme Court rulings dating back to the 1960s have gradually weakened key constitutional safeguards, eroding personal freedoms in exchange for the false promise of public safety. It’s all but set the stage for a would-be autocrat to step in and exploit these democratic vulnerabilities even further.

In her new book “Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration,” NYU Law Professor Rachel Barkow argues that these rollbacks of rights typically begin to take shape around scapegoated, marginalized groups like immigrants and people of color, but they are easily expanded from there.

For instance, the Trump administration’s claim that an administrative error was behind the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, could just as easily occur with any American citizen. “People need to understand that this isn’t just a threat against people who are immigrants–it really is all of us,” says Barkow. - Aired on 04/06/2025.