We now know there are forces that can bring Donald Trump to heel, at least provisionally. Last week, we learned that the markets could compel him to stay some of his plan to impose tariffs on every other nation, albeit while keeping a universal 10 percent duty and escalating the rate on China. To be sure, the markets, in the form of major investors in the normally placid Treasury bond market, had to almost melt down in order to compel Trump to back off his desire to see every other nation’s leaders “kissing my ass,” as he described the real goal of his tariff policy to fellow Republicans last week.

We also learned that while Trump administration officials whose jobs entail watching the markets, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, told Trump he probably had ought to back off, at least one White House adviser, Peter Navarro, urged Trump to stay the course. Navarro is a fuck-everyone-in-our-way guy; along with Steve Bannon, he defied subpoenas requiring him to testify to Congress’s January 6th Committee, and along with Steve Bannon, he served four months in the clink for contempt of Congress.

The question now before the nation is whether the Constitution can bring Trump to heel as the markets did last week. Last Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered the administration to “facilitate” the extrication of a Maryland man whom the administration admitted it had erroneously deported to an El Salvador prison known for torturing inmates, despite a 2019 court order specifically banning his deportation to El Salvador because of the possibility he faced torture from the government there if returned. The Maryland resident, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, was identified as a gang member on the basis of his wearing a Chicago Bulls cap and the years-old statement of an informant that he had belonged to a New York City gang, though Abrego Garcia has never lived in or near New York. He has no criminal record.

When federal district judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to return Abrego Garcia to the United States on April 4th, the administration responded by saying the court had no power in such matters. Their argument was rejected by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and last Thursday, by the Supreme Court, which in an unsigned order told the administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. Judge Xinis immediately demanded the administration report on Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts and their efforts to bring him back by Friday morning, but when the court convened last Friday, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign told her he had nothing to report about Abrego Garcia and relayed no acknowledgment that the administration would adhere to the Supreme Court’s order. Xinis said she was compelled to conclude that the government had “done nothing to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia.”