With gas prices through the roof, grocery prices higher than ever, interest rates going up, and good jobs harder to find, it’s a challenge for a lot of people to make ends meet. Affordability is a key economic and political issue.
But many would be surprised to know that it’s a legal issue, too.
Around the country, decisions made by federal judges have an enormous impact on the affordability crisis. Those decisions usually don’t make headlines. But their importance shouldn’t be overlooked.
For instance, job security is critical to being able to make ends meet. That means not just having a job, but having one that pays well, has good benefits, and has meaningful protections from workplace hazards, discrimination, and being fired unfairly.
Over the years, Congress has passed a lot of laws to make that possible. But far-right judges — especially ones nominated by President Trump — have been sabotaging those laws. And the impact of their decisions affects millions of people, not just the parties involved in the case.
For instance, Hannah Whitbeck tried to form a union at her Starbucks store and was illegally fired. The National Labor Relations Board ordered the company to pay Whitbeck damages. But a Trump judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that even if Starbucks had acted illegally, the National Labor Relations Board had exceeded its authority by ordering the company to pay Whitbeck for certain “direct or foreseeable” financial harms resulting from the unlawful firing.
That set a precedent way beyond Whitbeck and Starbucks. It essentially changed the law — and weakened protections for working people — in all the states covered by the Sixth Circuit: Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.
Decisions like that are happening all over the country.
Trump judge Drew Tipton blocked the Biden administration from raising the minimum wage for federal contractors. That took a much-needed raise away from more than 300,000 people.
Trump judge Ada Brown struck down the Biden administration’s ban on noncompete agreements that prevent employees from joining competing businesses or launching ones of their own. This limits job opportunities for 30 million Americans up and down the economic ladder who have had such agreements imposed on them as a condition of employment.
Decisions by Trump judges are making it easier to underpay people for overtime work, retaliate against people with serious illness for taking medical leave, and avoid paying damages for sickness caused by workplace hazards.
Undermining protections against consumer fraud and financial protections is another way these judges are contributing to the affordability crisis. For instance, a Trump judge in Texas struck down a Biden administration rule protecting consumers from excessive credit card late fees. This would have saved consumers $10 billion every year. But now that money will go from consumers’ pockets to the big banks.
Another Trump judge in Texas struck down a federal regulation that would have removed unpaid medical debt from the credit reports of 15 million consumers. Research shows that including medical debt leads to denials of loans that people could have repaid.
One of the ways we avoid financial disaster is to buy insurance. We think the insurance company will make us whole. But that isn’t always how it works. For instance, Trump judges dismissed a class action brought on behalf of roughly 90,000 Tennessee State Farm policyholders who alleged that the company systematically undervalued totaled vehicles.
In another case, an insurance company in Ohio promised to cover the actual cash value of a totaled car. But they didn’t cover taxes and fees, which customers got stuck having to pay. And a Trump judge ruled that this was legal.
Sometimes the market feels like predator and prey, and we’re the prey. Judges are supposed to protect us from that. It’s hard enough making ends meet these days. The last thing we need is to have more Trump judges on the bench helping powerful companies take our money away from us.
