{"id":2571092,"date":"2026-02-18T13:31:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nyt-accidentally-confesses-theres-a-left-wing-judicial-coup-against-trump\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T13:36:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:36:42","slug":"nyt-accidentally-confesses-theres-a-left-wing-judicial-coup-against-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nyt-accidentally-confesses-theres-a-left-wing-judicial-coup-against-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"NYT Accidentally Admits There&#8217;s A Judicial Coup Against Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnyt-accidentally-confesses-theres-a-left-wing-judicial-coup-against-trump%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2571092&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>This piece discusses CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin\u2019s New York Times op-ed, \u201cThe Plan for a Radically Different Supreme court Is here,\u201d in which he argues that Democrats are building a strategy to counter originalist judges and halt President Trump\u2019s agenda through the courts. It highlights the American Constitution society (ACS) and it&#8217;s new president phil Brest,contrasting ACS with the more influential Federalist Society,and notes that Toobin implies Biden-appointed judges have become a primary tool for resisting Trump. The article contends that Toobin criticizes ACS for lacking a clear constitutional alternative beyond opposing Trump, suggesting their focus is more on opposition than offering a distinct vision for the Constitution. It also argues that left-wing legal activism is increasingly centered on lower courts, where Democrat-appointed judges have issued injunctions and orders to block trump policies, a trend the author views as detrimental to the constitutional system. The Federalist\u2019s Shawn Fleetwood concludes that Toobin\u2019s piece, rather than revealing a viable counterplan, exposes ongoing leftist efforts to weaponize the judiciary for political power.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>CNN legal analyst <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/jeffrey-toobin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jeffrey Toobin<\/a> has never been one to show good judgement. When he&rsquo;s not getting caught conducting &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/06\/10\/after-pleasuring-himself-during-a-zoom-meeting-on-the-2020-election-jeffrey-toobin-is-back-on-the-air-at-cnn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">personal business<\/a>&rdquo; on a staff Zoom call, he&rsquo;s accidentally admitting that there&rsquo;s an <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >ongoing leftist-led judicial coup designed<\/a> to stymie President Trump&rsquo;s agenda. <\/p>\n<p>The serial self-pleasurer let the proverbial cat out of the bag in his Monday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/16\/opinion\/alternative-federalist-society.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">opinion column<\/a> for The New York Times. Titled, &ldquo;The Plan for a Radically Different Supreme Court Is Here,&rdquo; the article purports to roll out a blueprint for countering conservative appointments of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/originalism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">originalist<\/a> judges to the bench but inadvertently discloses the existence of leftists&rsquo; efforts to weaponize the judicial system against Trump. <\/p>\n<p>The admission comes in the piece&rsquo;s opening paragraphs, in which Toobin discusses the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/american-constitution-society-for-law-and-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">American Constitution Society<\/a> and its new president, Phil Brest. The ACS has often been described as the less successful and left-wing alternative to the conservative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/non-profit\/federalist-society-for-law-and-public-policy-studies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Federalist Society<\/a>, which has become an influential force in getting originalists appointed to the Supreme Court and other federal judgeships. <\/p>\n<p>Toobin notes how Brest &mdash; who worked in the Biden White House&rsquo;s counsel office &mdash; &ldquo;helped the president nominate and win confirmation of 235 federal judges, which is more than Mr. Trump&rsquo;s total in his first term.&rdquo; In the very next sentence, however, the CNN legal analyst let it slip that these judicial appointments have become the left&rsquo;s primary tool in grinding Trump and his voters&rsquo; agenda to a halt. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Those [Biden] judges &mdash; and others appointed by Democratic presidents &mdash; have proved that the most effective resistance to Mr. Trump has come not from Democratic politicians but rather from federal judges,&rdquo; wrote Toobin, who subsequently listed off a series of overreaching orders issued by &ldquo;these judges, many of them Biden appointees,&rdquo; against the 47th president. <\/p>\n<p>Toobin goes on to lament how the ACS has not boasted the same level of success as groups like The Federalist Society and has failed to advance an alternative style of judicial interpretation to originalism, which emphasizes the interpretation of the Constitution as written at the time of its adoption. Once again, the CNN legal analyst openly admits that &mdash; contrary to the article&rsquo;s headline &mdash; the ACS doesn&rsquo;t actually have a different philosophy or &ldquo;plan&rdquo; in mind, and that the group&rsquo;s only strategy at the moment is appointing activist judges who will abuse their authority to stonewall Republican presidents. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;For now, under Mr. Brest, the A.C.S. seems headed for an approach that looks like the one that Democratic politicians have so far adopted: aimed more at opposition to Mr. Trump&rsquo;s record rather than on a specific, alternative vision for the Constitution. In his opening&nbsp;message&nbsp;to the group, Mr. Brest described the A.C.S. as building &lsquo;a bulwark against overreach by the Trump administration and the Roberts court,&#8217;&rdquo; Toobin wrote. &ldquo;Mr. Brest has pledged that A.C.S. will continue its Biden-era focus on judicial appointments &hellip; As for what those judges will stand for &mdash; as opposed to what they stand against &mdash; Mr. Brest has no clear answer.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>What Toobin&rsquo;s article encapsulates is the left&rsquo;s ongoing struggle session about how best to lie to the American people about the kinds of legal minds they want to appoint to the bench and their blatant disregard for proper separation of powers. <\/p>\n<p>The entire reason for the modern originalist movement&rsquo;s foundation and ultimate success is because of past Supreme Courts&rsquo; embrace of living constitutionalism, a style of judicial interpretation in which judges treat the Constitution as a &ldquo;living&rdquo; document that magically evolves with the times. It is through this philosophy that judges take it upon themselves to act as legislators and effectively rewrite America&rsquo;s founding document as they see fit. <\/p>\n<p>Whereas living constitutionalism takes away the people and their elected representatives&rsquo; lawmaking power and hands it to unelected lawyers in black robes, originalism delivers the opposite &mdash; a maintaining of separation of powers in which Americans hold the exclusive power to amend the Constitution. <\/p>\n<p>In many cases, the current Supreme Court has adopted the latter approach instead of the former and has rolled back much of the activism of past Supreme Courts. With this avenue of power no longer available to them and the legislative and executive branches under Republican control, leftists have turned to their last available option: the lower courts. <\/p>\n<p>As admitted by Toobin, Democrat-appointed district judges have become a critical feature of the left&rsquo;s evolving lawfare against Trump and those who support him. In response to leftist-backed lawsuits, these judges have spent the past year issuing <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/judicial-coup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overreaching<\/a> injunctions and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-anyones-causing-a-judicial-crisis-its-rogue-judges\/\" title=\"If Anyone&#039;s Causing A &#039;Judicial Crisis,&#039; It&#039;s Rogue Judges\">temporary restraining orders blocking<\/a> every aspect of the president&rsquo;s agenda &mdash; with some even going as far as <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycitizen.focusonthefamily.com\/court-overrules-district-judge-allows-planned-parenthood-defunding-to-continue\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attempting<\/a> to unilaterally halt enactment of policies passed by Congress. <\/p>\n<p><strong>[READ:[READ:<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/06\/18\/80-percent-of-anti-trump-lawsuits-are-filed-in-courts-ruled-by-democrat-appointees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">80 Percent Of Anti-Trump Lawsuits Are Filed In Courts Ruled By Democrat Appointees<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While the Supreme Court has limited some of these actions, loopholes in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-overturns-chevron-doctrine-upends-administrative-state\/\" title=\"SCOTUS Overturns Chevron Doctrine, Upends Administrative State\">high court&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/06\/27\/supreme-court-nukes-nationwide-injunctions-against-trumps-birthright-citizenship-order\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2025 ruling<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-courts-title-ix-ruling-creates-enforcement-patchwork-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"...\u2019s Title IX ruling creates enforcement patchwork - Washington Examiner\">lower courts&#038;rsquo<\/a>; abuse of nationwide injunctions have <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/11\/the-supreme-court-killed-universal-injunctions-in-name-only\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">continued<\/a> to be <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/11\/11\/ongoing-judicial-coup-proves-alito-thomas-were-right-about-weak-scotus-injunction-ruling\/\">exploited<\/a> by rogue judges. The <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/01\/14\/46-house-republicans-help-democrats-defeat-measure-defunding-activist-judges-boasberg-boardman\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GOP Congress<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/06\/26\/if-trump-doesnt-reject-judicial-supremacism-his-presidency-is-finished\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Trump<\/a> have also declined to take necessary action to stop this weaponization of the judicial system. <\/p>\n<p>The Times and Toobin may think the latter&rsquo;s article is shining a light on a new and exciting counter to the successful originalist movement. In reality, it&rsquo;s just further affirmation of the left&rsquo;s willingness to wreck America&rsquo;s constitutional system in their quest for unfettered power. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toobin hints at leftists using courts to stop Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2571093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Judiciary.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[50634,4151,15823,5894,3634],"class_list":["post-2571092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-coup-2","tag-judiciary","tag-nyt","tag-politics","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Judiciary.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2571092"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2571097,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571092\/revisions\/2571097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2571093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2571092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2571092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2571092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}