I’m a law student in the US, so I’m actually privy to this information in the form of all the talks that they have judges and lawyers giving. You may not assume that the US judiciary is healthy and functioning, but it is not as broken as most international observers (or chronically online Americans) think it is. In particular, if you have been observing the Department for Justice’s results recently, you’ll notice a few things: Because the Department has been hiring for loyalty and not legal skill, the Department has lost most of its prior prestige. Previously, clerking for the Department was a competitive law school position. Now, the top legal minds then to avoid it. As a result, the quality of legal skill at the Department has decreased, drastically. Judges in the federal judiciary, with the exception of some notable Trump cronies, is actually very willing to uphold existing procedural law and rule against the government. It happens extremely regularly. When judicial orders are ignored, it is almost always temporary and not in any lasting way. Federal judges still do threaten and issue contempt of court penalties and disciplinary referrals to officials who blatantly disobey court orders. So in short, you are partially correct and partially wrong. The judiciary of the US has shown to be remarkably resilient considering it has withstood two years of a fascist in power and in full control of the legislature.