The Rule of the Courts

M. Akram Faizer

The U.S.’s inordinate income and wealth inequality is worsened by unequal access to preschool and k-12 education due to a regressive funding scheme that offers the best public schooling to the wealthiest households and a system of higher education that is only affordable to middle income households whose children take on a staggering amount of non-dischargeable student loan debt. 13 Americans problematically fail to appreciate that unequal access to education worsens the problem of income inequality that, in turn, increases discrepancies in education attainment. In terms of the rule of law, the U.S. has seen a sitting president act with impunity in supporting an insurrection against the lawful transfer of power to his successor. 14 This impunity was effectuated by the U.S. Senate’s failure to convict him after his impeachment by the full House of Representatives and by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 decision to disregard clear constitutional text and grant him full immunity for criminal acts in office. 15 During the second Turmp Administration, the White House and the federal courts have shown contempt for the rule of law by systematically disregarding clear legal mandates for mature democracies such as the obvious duty to avoid criminalizing political dissent, the obligation to allow speech and association rights for political protestors and the requirement that humane treatment and due process be afforded to migrants before government deportation. 16 In my field, higher education, the government 12 Pedro Gomes & Hernán D. Seoane, Made in Europe: Monetary–Fiscal Policy Mix with Financial Frictions , 165 Eur. Econ. Rev. 104727 (2024) and Martin Sandbu, What the U.S. Got Right That Europe Did Not , Fin. Times (Dec. 3, 2025), https://www.ft.com/ content/7240265e-0157-428b-9c47-fb07c360dfc2. 13 Kimberly Jenkins Robinson, Fisher’s Cautionary Tale and the Uncertain Future of Race-Conscious Admissions , 130 Harv. L. Rev. 185 (2016). 14 See Smith Special Counsel Investigation, Final Report of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, at ___ (describing efforts to create and transmit false electoral slates to disrupt certification of the 2020 election), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/c ontent/pkg/CRPT-117hrpt663/pdf/CRPT-117hrpt663.pdf (last visited Dec. 30, 2025) 15 Trump v. United States (2024) and 67 Cong. Rec. S719 (daily ed. Feb. 13, 2021) is the appropriate official Senate record citation showing the acquittal vote outcome. 16 See e.g. United Nations, What Is the Rule of Law , https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/what is-the-rule-of-law/ (last visited Dec. 30, 2025).

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