Is what people are complaining about when they talk about conservatives on the bench really an objection to Legal Formalism? As defined by one source:
As a descriptive theory of law, legal formalism seeks to discover uncontroversial principles of common law and apply them to the facts at hand. Legal formalism differs from legal realism , as it does not consider the social interests and public policy ramifications of rulings.
That is, is ruling in a case that “yes, technically Trump as the President does have the authority to do that” considered objectionable just because it is blind to “social interests and public policy ramifications”? In other words, do those who object consider such legal formalism a mere dog-whistle for a right-wing agenda, hypocritical and without honest intent? Do they deny that legal formalism is a legitimate judicial philosophy at all?
What “people are complaining about” is that the Supreme Court is not acting in its role as a check against executive overreach, i.e. allowing the president to exercise authority that should be the purview of Congress (effectively creating and destroying agencies, unilaterally imposing tariffs and executive orders outside the scope of recognized executive authority, using patent claims such as that Venezuela is effectively at war with the United States and ‘invading’ with gang members to justify the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deny due process rights). Of course, the primary check against executive authority should be the Congress, which can block presidential actions by resolution and in extremis vote to impeach, convict, and remove a self-described dictator for repeatedly exceeding his Constitutional authority (and indeed, failing to acknowledge that he is bound by and sworn and oath to protect Constitutional protections), but of course the majority of that body has been thoroughly subsumed into the cult of MAGA.
Or are you just peachy keen with what has been going on for the last hundred-odd days and don’t see any reason why the Supreme Court or anyone else should seek to reinstall some guardrails around executive action?