Referring to Trump’s scheme to manufacture voter-fraud prosecutions as a pretext for overturning his loss…, #SCOTUS writes that “because the President cannot be prosecuted for conduct within his exclusive constitutional authority, #Trump is absolutely immune from prosecution for the alleged conduct involving his discussions w/ #Justice Dept ofcls.” This refers to discussions in which Trump…told the #DOJ, “Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me & the R. Congressmen”….
…Chief Justice #JohnRoberts often sounds more like #Trump’s lawyer than the #impartial judge he presents himself as. Roberts writes that “w/respect to the President’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this #immunity must be absolute.” If that applies …to a sitting president manufacturing a scheme to avoid relinquishing #power after losing an #election, then there is no #legal constraint on a president simply refusing to leave office & using his authority to find a pretext for doing so.
We can debate the nuances of history, the Framers’ intentions, or the text of the #Constitution. What the Founders of the #UnitedStates did not intend to do when they designed a constitutional system of checks & balances, was establish a govt that would allow someone to declare themselves president for life….
#SCOTUS writes that presidents cannot be prosecuted for “use” of their ofcl powers, but what it actually means is they cannot be prosecuted for the flagrant abuse of them.
That renders the plain disclaimer on which the opinion rests—the president is not above the #law—a lie. More significant,the opinion depends on an implicit belief that the only person who would act so brazenly is #Trump, & that bc the majority of the justices…support Trump & want him to be president, he must be shielded from prosecution. In this backhanded manner, Trump’s justices acknowledge that he poses a unique threat to constitutional govt, one they just happen to support bc he’s their guy.
These are not justices; these are #Trump cronies. This is not #legal reasoning; this is vandalism.
…this [opinion] covers its #radicalism w/a pretense of moderation…that would nonetheless allow a president to escape prosecution for the most heinous abuses of power imaginable. #SCOTUS rejects…that a fmr president must be impeached & convicted before being prosecuted, while laying down a standard that makes it impossible for a president who attempts to seize #power to be prosecuted for doing so.
“Distinguishing the President’s official actions from his unofficial ones can be difficult,” #JohnRoberts writes. Then he makes it more difficult, writing that “in dividing official from unofficial conduct, courts may not inquire into the President’s motives.”
#law #SCOTUS #PartisanCourt #ExtremistCourt #CorruptCourt #DarkMoney #immunity #Trump #MAGA #Republicans #Jan6
That’s the idea: By balancing the possibility of any prosecution on this distinction, & by then making that distinction virtually impossible to discern, Roberts eliminates any chance of resolving the underlying #legal issues of #Trump’s current federal prosecution before Trump has a chance to take #power again. If Trump wins, he can then—wielding the sword of “absolute immunity” that #SCOTUS has provided—dismiss the #criminal investigations against him.
A lifetime appointment means that #SupremeCourt justices can do whatever they wish when they are in the majority. When the justices wanted to force #Colorado to return #Trump to its presidential #ballot after the state concluded that his attempted seizure of #power on #Jan6 barred him from holding office under the #FourteenthAmendment, they moved as rapidly as possible. When they wanted to assist Trump’s strategy of delaying any possible federal trial, they took their time.
…The current composition of #SCOTUS is the result of decades of work by #RightWing activists seeking a permanent #conservative #political ascendancy, & the behavior of the majority consistently reflects that objective. Like other right-wing institutions, it has become thoroughly #corrupted by its obeisance to the #Republican Party leader, the principle to which all others are now subordinate. This is not the Republican Party Court; it is the #Trump Court.
#Trump’s claim was absurd on its face: namely, that former presidents are immune to prosecution for any #crime committed under color of #law unless impeached & convicted. The kernel of logic in that argument, that the powers of the president confer some level of #immunity for certain acts, has been expanded beyond recognition to immunize Trump from prosecution.
#law #SCOTUS #PartisanCourt #ExtremistCourt #CorruptCourt #DarkMoney #CourtReform #RightWing #MAGA #Republicans #Jan6
…this would mean that a president could assassinate a rival in the name of #NationalSecurity, then avoid impeachment by intimidating members of Congress w/the threat of murdering them as well, & thus be immune from prosecution forever. …& if by some miracle a president who murdered his political enemies were removed, prosecutors would not only be barred from trying him but would also not be allowed to use his conversations w/executive-branch ofcls as #evidence against him.