Legal experts warn the administration’s illegitimate power grab upends democratic checks for a slide in to dictatorship

The deceptively legalistic camouflage rendered the words almost banal – while still clearly communicating their ominous undercurrent.

“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” wrote vice-president JD Vance, a graduate of Yale law school, on X as he waded into an escalating tug-of-war between his boss, Donald Trump, and the US federal courts.