“Both the Executive and the Judiciary have an obligation to follow the law,” Alito said in the dissent released hours after the court’s intervention against Republican President Donald Trump’s administration."
In Justice Alito's dissent he suggested SCOTUS violated the law, the same law that Chief Justice Roberts himself scolded plaintiffs for breaking, Jurisdiction.
What is Jurisdiction?
The order of courts is as follows: District court followed by Circuit of Appeals court and then finally SCOTUS. Congress wrote law dictating Jurisdiction. An appeals court can’t hear a case before a district court ruling and SCOTUS can’t before an appeals court ruling. SCOTUS is the last because they are a court of final review meaning they should never be the first to hear a case and the facts should already have been gathered in the district court. When the ACLU bypassed the district and appeals courts and went directly to SCOTUS, under the law SCOTUS had no jurisdiction, but they ruled anyway. In ruling without Jurisdiction SCOTUS violated the law and the due process rights of the defendant.
But the SCOTUS ruling isn’t the only issue.
Jurisdiction also applies to whom the rulings apply to. A district court ruling can only apply to its district, or the parties involved. This is why we often see states adding themselves to district cases. The only exception is a class action lawsuit but establishing a class has strict requirements.
An example: Even though Florida District Judge Cannon ruled Jack Smith was illegally appointed, DC District Judge Chutkan did not observe that ruling and wasn’t required to because it wasn't in her district. We have seen at an alarming rate, district courts giving rulings that span beyond their district, or the parties involved. Appeals courts and SCOTUS have ruled these overreaches violate the constitution, but district courts keep doing it. Why?
Immunity.
Judges have immunity from prosecution or civil penalties for any ruling they make, even if unconstitutional or with malice. They are self governing. A mistrial can be declared or the ruling overturned by an appeals court, but the offending judge gets nothing more than an administrative demerit, if that. There is the possibility of impeachment but that is rare, so district courts have no incentive to follow SCOTUS rulings or the law.
Judge shopping.
Depending on your case, you can shop the country for a judge with an ideology that gives you an advantage. Need a pro-choice judge? Get one from a liberal district. Need a tough on crime judge, get one from a conservative district. These judges then make rulings that exceed the parties or their district in violation of the constitution. You are not supposed to judge shop, you are supposed to use one in the district where the incident happened, but people do it anyway.
Is there a constitutional crisis of Jurisdiction in the courts?
Congress has said district courts have exceeded their jurisdiction. The executive branch has said district courts have exceeded their jurisdiction and appeals courts have ruled district courts exceeded it as well. But what happens when the highest court in the land exceeds their jurisdiction? One could argue a constitutional jurisdiction crisis.