A high-profile Supreme Court watcher excoriated the court on Monday because of its efforts to play "handmaiden" to President Donald Trump's "regime."

Elie Mystal, a columnist for The Nation, argued in a new op-ed that the Supreme Court can no longer be considered an ally of liberal causes such as abortion rights or recognizing transgender individuals. He added that Democrats appear to be willing to let the court get away with becoming an "antidemocratic enforcement mechanism of the Republican political agenda."

"The Supreme Court is not our friend. And I don’t know how often this court has to kick us in the face to get people to realize that," Mystal wrote. "But the answer, for at least another term, appears to be 'more.'"

The Supreme Court justices returned from their summer break on Oct. 6. Mystal estimated that "those who value human decency will lose the highest-profile cases" during the upcoming session because of the court's rightward turn.

"This term, the court will continue to prop up the Trump regime," Mystal argued, citing the court's use of the shadow docket and efforts to curb nationwide injunctions from lower courts. "They’ll use every procedural trick in the book, and when that’s not good enough, they’ll either rule for Trump outright or create opportunities for him to get second and third and fourth bites of the same apple until his unhinged administration tweaks its arguments to the court’s satisfaction."

"When the court isn’t playing handmaiden to Trump’s particular brand of authoritarianism, it will do what it’s generally been trying to do for the past 20-plus years under John Roberts’s leadership: continue to suck the life out of the democratic process and crush the rights of anybody who doesn’t happen to be a cishetero white man," he added.

"While Democrats patiently wait for the magical day when the Supreme Court tells Trump no, the six Republicans will bully trans kids and poison the environment for all kids lucky enough to survive the next school shooting," the op-ed reads in part.

Read the entire op-ed by clicking here.