They did it. The Supreme Court handed Donald Trump a landslide victory in this so-called “immunity” case, and it will likely be a year or more before he even has a chance to be tried for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and, with it, the United States government.
As feared, the six Republicans on the court have essentially sent Trump’s sedition case back to the lower court (with reservations), where it must now make a series of decisions about whether the crimes he committed were “official” or “private/personal” acts. These decisions can all be appealed further, so the case will be retried and Trump can drag it out for another year or more.
But that’s not the worst part. They also made Trump or any future fascist president our first American king or leader.
And whatever fig leaves this decision may have, if Trump is elected this fall, he will appoint a corrupt attorney general who will immediately thwart Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Chief Justice Roberts even went so far as to say in this corrupt ruling that Trump’s speech calling on people to attack the Capitol and try to hang Mike Pence, as well as his refusal to deploy the National Guard or call on his fanatical supporters to withdraw, could well be part of his “official duties.”
Referring to Trump’s call for the rioters to overturn the election, Chief Justice Roberts bizarrely writes:
“The majority of a president’s public communications are likely to be within the outer scope of his official responsibilities.”
Justice Sotomayor would have none of it. Her dissenting opinion summed up the situation elegantly:
“The decision to grant criminal immunity to former presidents changes the institution of the presidency. It mocks the fundamental principle of our Constitution and our system of government that no one is above the law.
“Relying on little more than its own misguided wisdom regarding the need for ‘courageous and bold action’ by the President, the Court grants former President Trump the immunity he has requested and more. Since our Constitution does not protect a former President from answering for criminal and treasonous acts, I dissent.”
“The Court now faces a question it has never had to answer in the history of the country: whether a former president enjoys immunity from federal prosecution. The majority believes that he should, and so invents a textless, ahistorical, and indefensible immunity that places the president above the law. The majority takes three steps that effectively completely shield presidents from criminal liability.”
The six Republicans on this court have essentially declared that they and Trump are so far above the law that the entire concept on which this nation was founded – that “no one is above the law” – is null and void.
As Justice Jackson’s dissent shows, if a future president wants to commit a crime, all he has to do is claim that whatever he did was merely an “official act.” This includes, in particular, ordering the Attorney General to commit crimes himself.
Such a decision would come from a court in Putin’s Russia. Justice Sotomayor put it clearly in her dissent:
“The most important conclusion from this decision is that all official acts of a president, regardless of motive or intent, are entitled to immunity that is ‘at least … presumptive’ and possibly ‘absolute.’ Whenever the president exercises the enormous power of his office, the majority says, the criminal law cannot (at least presumptively) touch him.
“This immunity from official action has ‘no firm basis in the Constitution, history, or precedent.’ In fact, these ‘standard constitutional grounds’ all point in the opposite direction. No matter how you look at it, majority immunity from official action is completely untenable.”
“The text of the Constitution contains no provision for immunity from criminal prosecution for former presidents.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson makes it even clearer in the bluntest terms that this Court – which behaves like kings and queens itself – has made the former President its equal – a king – with little or no commitment to the rule of law. In her dissenting opinion, she wrote:
“To fully appreciate the profound changes the majority has brought about, one must first appreciate what it means to have immunity from prosecution. Simply put, immunity is an ‘exemption’ from the duties and obligations imposed by law.
“In its purest form, the concept of immunity amounts to a maxim: ‘The King can do no wrong’ – a notion that was firmly rejected at the birth of (our) Republic. To say that someone is immune from prosecution is to say that, like a king, he is ‘not subject to the coercive power of the law’, which ‘does not trust him to commit a folly, much less a crime.'”
“Immunity, then, does not mean that one can defend oneself from the law. Rather, it means that the law does not apply to the immunized person at all. The granting of immunity ‘creates a privileged class free from liability for wrongs inflicted or threatened.'”
Unless Congress acts quickly and overturns this obscene 6-3 decision—which would not happen as long as Republicans control the House—democracy in America is wounded, possibly fatally, and the President has been made a dictator should he or she choose to act that way. As Justice Sotomayor said:
“If he uses his official powers in any way, the majority now finds him immune from criminal prosecution. He orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. He organizes a military coup to stay in power? Immune. He accepts bribes in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune… Out of fear for our democracy, I dissent.”
If we have a president (Biden) who respects America’s fundamental laws, history and traditions, we are safe – at least for now. On the other hand, if Trump or another fascist Republican becomes president, he can do pretty much whatever he wants.
The imperial presidency is now officially here, not just in rhetoric but in practice. The six Republicans on the Supreme Court have done massive, perhaps irreparable violence to our republic.
We are in big trouble, this court is out of control and the Senate must act – Senator Dick Durbin.
If Trump is elected, these six Republicans have just given him the almost Putin-like power to end our Democratic-Republican form of government, as Justice Gorsuch put it, “forever.”
