President Donald Trump’s dramatic pause of federal grants and loans is queuing up a Supreme Court showdown over the Constitution that will test the court’s recently muscular commitment to curb executive power.

To put the point as directly possible, the Supreme Court’s budget depends upon a functioning appropriations power.

President Trump’s Justice Department could change the department’s position on critical Supreme Court cases, potentially altering the trajectory of high-profile appeals before the justices. While it is customary for new administration’s to shift such positions in a handful of cases when a new party takes over the White House,