The court left open the possibility of class action suits, but those are often difficult if not impossible. Simply put, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority greatly weakened a crucial guardrail of democracy: the ability of the federal judiciary to halt unconstitutional presidential actions.

On Friday, the Supreme Court held that federal courts lack authority to issue universal injunctions. The decision in Trump v. CASA deprives the judiciary of a vital tool in checking the most egregious abuses of executive power. But it also does something more pernicious, creating a blueprint for the Trump administration to win by losing.