Over the past few months, Republican-appointed judges have either stalled or invalidated a slew of Joe Biden’s policies, potentially erasing a big chunk of the outgoing president’s legacy. These rulings, which largely strike down executive branch initiatives that were not approved by Congress, are an ominous sign for Vice President Kamala Harris. If she wins in November but Democrats don’t carry both houses of Congress, her presidency could turn into nothingness: bills blocked by Republicans on Capitol Hill and administration actions immediately overturned by conservatives on the bench.

This week, a federal judge appointed by former president Donald Trump paused a Biden administration initiative that would have made it easier for undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens to get legal status. That comes after recent rulings from lower-level judges, nearly all appointed by either Trump or George W. Bush, that have blocked or curtailed: the administration’s ban on noncompete agreements, a plan that would have reduced student loan repayment costs for about 8 million Americans, expanded protections for transgender children in schools, rules requiring airlines to be more transparent about fees that they charge customers and an initiative to limit industrial pollution in heavily Black areas in Louisiana.

Those are all good and much-needed policies.

“This is why the conservative legal movement pushed so hard to capture the federal courts. Even when Republicans do not control the executive or the legislature, conservative federal judges can exercise a veto........

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