When we talk about the affordability crisis, most people think about prices.
Groceries. Housing. Health care. Childcare.
But what’s get less attention is one of the forces driving up costs in this country: far-right judges on the federal courts.
Over the past several years, Donald Trump has reshaped the judiciary with judges who consistently side with corporations over working people and consumers. And now, those judges are issuing decisions that are making it harder to earn a fair wage, easier for corporations to raise prices and fees, and more difficult for everyday Americans to fight back.
This is already hitting people’s paychecks, bills, and ability to get ahead.
Trump-appointed judges have:
- Blocked rules that would expand overtime pay, keeping wages lower for millions of workers
- Struck down protections like eviction moratoriums, putting more families at risk of losing their homes
- Undermined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, making it easier for banks and lenders to hit people with junk fees and predatory practices
- Allowed corporations to force workers and consumers into arbitration, shutting the courthouse doors when people try to challenge illegal behavior
Each of these decisions tilts the balance of power in the same direction: toward corporations, and away from you.
That has real consequences.
- When workers cannot organize or fight wage theft, pay stagnates.
- When consumer protections are weakened, costs go up.
- When corporate monopolies go unchecked, prices rise.
- When courts block relief programs like student debt forgiveness, families are left with fewer resources to afford basic necessities.
This is how the affordability crisis gets worse even when it feels like no one voted for it.
And here is the part that should concern every single person reading this: it is still happening.
Right now, Senate Republicans are continuing to confirm Trump’s judicial nominees to lifetime seats on the bench. These are individuals with records of opposing minimum wage increases, attacking worker protections, defending predatory financial practices, and arguing against the very tools people rely on to hold corporations accountable.
If they are confirmed, they will shape the rules of our economy for decades.
We cannot allow this to continue unchecked.
The truth is simple: Affordability is not just about economic policy. It is about power.
Who has it. Who doesn’t. And who the courts choose to protect.
Right now, too many judges are choosing corporations over people. And unless the Senate changes course, that imbalance will only deepen.
We need a judiciary that understands what is at stake for working families and is willing to uphold the laws that protect them.
