In the annals of American history, March 2025 may be remembered as the week when democracy itself was placed on life support.
A series of unprecedented legal and constitutional breaches sent shockwaves through the nation’s legal institutions, raising alarms about the erosion of checks and balances.
In a stunning abdication of congressional authority, lawmakers surrendered their Article I powers to an unelected South African billionaire, granting him unchecked influence over government operations.
The State Department, in a move that defied diplomatic norms, expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the United States for merely criticizing the billionaire’s growing control.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security initiated warrantless searches of college dormitories, marking a chilling departure from Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Erosion of Due Process and Civil Liberties
The fundamental right to due process faced a grave threat as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a lawful U.S. resident without charges, deprived him of legal counsel, and transported him from New York to Louisiana with the intent to deport him.
Simultaneously, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) forcibly removed a 10-year-old U.S. citizen recovering from brain cancer and sent her to Mexico, exemplifying the unprecedented reach of executive overreach into the rights of American citizens.
Further compounding these abuses, the Department of Education launched investigations into universities that permitted speech the president opposed, under the guise of combating antisemitism. This crackdown on academic freedom coincided with an unelected billionaire’s social media post denying the Holocaust, an act that faced no legal consequences even as the administration pursued punitive actions against dissenting voices.
The billionaire, despite his inflammatory rhetoric, was granted the privilege of selling his company’s vehicles on the White House lawn after his stock price collapsed—an overt symbol of corporate favoritism at the highest levels of government.
Judicial Corruption and the Erosion of Legal Norms
Perhaps most alarming was the outright politicization of the Justice Department.
In a move that threatened the independence of federal prosecution, the convicted felon president personally visited the department and instructed attorneys to pursue charges against his political adversaries.
The new FBI director, once the head of an institution committed to nonpartisanship, requested a private security team and direct access to the president—further blurring the lines between law enforcement and political loyalty.
Elsewhere, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia was exposed for making racially biased claims that individuals of Mexican descent were likely to be undocumented immigrants. In a blatant act of political retribution, the U.S. Pardon Attorney was dismissed after refusing to recommend the restoration of gun rights for actor Mel Gibson, a vocal Trump supporter.
Unconstitutional Power Grabs and the Supreme Court’s Role
Beyond the Department of Justice, the administration flouted judicial authority by openly defying a court order to reinstate recently terminated federal employees.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department complied with executive orders to erase historical records on Black, Hispanic, and female veterans from national archives, in an attempt to rewrite the country’s military history.
Federal agencies were further instructed to remove the terms “Black,” “LGBTQ,” “Native American,” “transgender,” and even “Gulf of Mexico” from official government documents, an Orwellian attempt to erase entire communities and geographic realities from national discourse.
In perhaps the most ominous development, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from the White House seeking to grant the president the authority to nullify the Constitution via executive order—specifically targeting the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship, a fundamental right enshrined since the abolition of slavery.
The Impending Crisis: A Call to Action
This moment in history is a clear warning: democracy stands on the precipice. With legal safeguards crumbling, the alarm bells are sounding louder than ever.
The legal community, lawmakers, and the public at large must recognize the gravity of this moment. The constitutional crisis is not looming—it is here.
The question remains: will America heed the warning, or will history record this as the week its democracy was lost?
This write-up was culled from a commentary by Keith Boykin, author and political commentator.
