Of several, the most disturbing thing to me about SCOTUS’s immunity decision is its blindness to the reality that constitutional executive power can be exercised corruptly, and if it is, the law should have an answer. For over two centuries, everybody (including every executive) believed it did, yet yesterday we learned it does not.
And it’s worse than that. One presumptive limitation on that kind of corrupt action by a president (albeit a silly one, e.g., G. Gordon Liddy or John Eastman) is the lack of immunity for those needed to help carry out the criminal acts. But that’s no problem, now. It’s pardons all around, and nobody can ask why.
So much for text, history, and tradition. The decision ignores each to a startling degree. Originalism is a fine way to say that something isn’t in the constitution, but it’s problematic when you’re bound and determined to find a way to do what you want. Those darned penumbras. They’re just too good to ignore sometimes, aren’t they?
One justice said during oral argument that they’d be “writing for the ages.” When I heard that, I thought no…that’s going to be a comment that he won’t be proud of. I thought that if there ever were a case that cried out for incrementalism and restraint, this was it. A record like this is no place to monkey around with pronouncements that challenge - much less, destroy - deeply felt, dearly held, and simply stated maxims to which most Americans subscribe: that in America, no person is above the law; that in America we value the peaceful transfer of power.
To me, it’s unbelievable.
I'm incredibly angry at how SCOTUS has almost completely cemented the rule of the Plutocrats over our nation. First corporations are people, then corporations have all the rights of real humans, now corporations can challenge Federal rule making and only the courts -- or more accurately SCOTUS -- can ultimately decide where a regulation is necessary and/or legal.
And now with his new immunity, the first unscrupulous POTUS to come along -- probably Trump -- really will get to be "a dictator on day one" -- and basically all the days that follow. Declare the Insurrection Act in effect and everything becomes an official action. We're done as a democracy. Time to learn Russian, Chinese, and the North Korean dialect of Korean.
Dear Mr. Franklin,
We couldn't keep it. Sorry/not sorry.
Sinisterly,
SCOTUS and the Fascist GOP
😤😠😡🤬