Forty-eight years ago, under intense questioning, President Richard Nixon famously declared, “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”

In February, Donald Trump took that idea a step further. He invoked a dramatic (albeit apocryphal) quote from Napoleon Bonaparte: “He who saves his country does not violate any laws.”

Trump’s contempt for America’s courts is now escalating from defiance to intimidation. He is calling for the impeachment of judges who block his executive orders while threatening prominent law firms in litigation challenging the legality of his actions in office.

This rank bullying includes his recent call to impeach the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for D.C. Also, Trump personally attacked one judge on social media, demeaning him as a “radical left lunatic, a troublemaker and agitator.”

Trump’s political supporters followed up on his menacing behavior by labeling Judge James Boasberg as a “terrorist-loving judge.” These angry verbal assaults began after Boasberg issued a fairly ordinary ruling that his administration must follow the law and have proper hearings before deporting immigrants.

Trump’s allies in Congress have joined the president in browbeating judges. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has floated the idea of eliminating entire judicial........

© The Hill