The president’s involvement in these New York cases is likely due to the fact that it is his hometown, with which he has an ambivalent relationship: the Trump Tower, which has stood on Fifth Avenue since 1983, certainly reflects his success in business, but Donald Trump has often denounced the condescension of Manhattan’s elites towards him, a native of Queens.

A Challenge to Local Checks and Balances

These cases particularly revive, in the unprecedented political context of 2025, the long-standing question of the balance of power between the federal states and the government in Washington. The Constitution can be interpreted in contradictory ways on this point: the Tenth Amendment states that powers not explicitly granted to the federal government or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states (which is similar to the rule for dividing powers within the European Union). However, Section 8 of Article 1 of the Constitution, known as the "Commerce Clause," gives Congress the power to regulate trade between the states and has historically been used to expand the federal government’s powers over the states.

In modern times, particularly with the New Federalism movement of the 1980s and 1990s, it was the Republicans who supported the states, seeking to reverse the centralization of power. Yet, through the attacks launched in the state and city of New York (and in other states and cities) since his inauguration on January 20, Trump appears to be overturning this tradition.

This editorial is only available in French.