There are already dozens of lawsuits across the country aimed at halting Elon Musk’s assault on the government and other illegal actions pushed by President Donald Trump’s new administration.

These include challenges to the structure of Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, to his use of a private server at the Office of Personnel Management, to his alleged access to the nation’s most sensitive payment systems, and his dismantling of the US Agency for International Development. There are challenges to Trump’s firings of civil servants, inspectors general, and independent agency commissioners, as well as his executive orders targeting birthright citizenship and the rights of trangender individuals. There are suits challenging Trump’s unconstitutional attempt to withhold funds appropriated by Congress, and others seeking to protect career FBI agents who investigated January 6.

As the cases progress, and judges have issued orders halting overreach on the part of Musk and Trump, a growing chorus on the right are urging them to ignore the courts. For constitutional and government scholars, this would be a fundamental step from democracy toward autocracy.

“If the President really did this as a categorical matter—’I’m just going to ignore any order I don’t like’—that’s basically the end,” says Martin Redish, a constitutional law professor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law. “I just don’t see how that’s not a dictatorship. Let’s put it this way: at least the adjective in the phrase ‘constitutional democracy’ would be lost.”