Heather Cox Richardson shared that several of the justices had previously said the president was absolutely NOT immune. Why have they changed their minds in a ruling like this? Why can't the senate hold a hearing requiring them to explain that, under oath? Do we, the people, have no recourse when it comes to SCOTUS?
I think this republican SCOTUS judges delaying to favor trump. at the end of the day, i suspect not much will change. presidents are only immune for "official acts.". This is similar to the standard from the Nixon case in that "official acts" will likely be defined something like "within the normally accepted boundaries of their job description." This issue is GOING TO BE what happens when "official acts" are done in furtherance of a corrupt (unofficial) purpose.
That is EXACTLY what the evidentiary hearing will be about that Jack Smith will do w/ judge Chutkan. I suspect "official" will be equivalent to "expressed/delineated constitutional duties". Obstructing congressional duties, leading an insurrection, violating the espionage act ect., are not official acts.
Very sobering. The deep arrogance is terrifying and should be, for us all.
This ruling means that colluding with Putin is legitimate, that trying to bribe Zelenskyy was part of official duties, and so on and on. Offering to shoot BLM protestors.
Thank you for your continued courage and clearsightedness.
We have been betrayed by the liars calling themselves SC Justices. They told us they believed in the rule of law in their Senate hearings then swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Yesterday every one of them that signed the opinion giving Trump keys to the Kingdom betrayed the US and all of us. It was quite simply a Coup d'etat by deceit. And everyone of them should be forced to stand down, resign their office and apologize to the American people.
I think the silver lining here is that Stare Decisis is dead....the current roster on SCOTUS has killed it. We need a few new justices to simply reverse the last several sessions of their decisions. Just another reason to do anything/everything we can to keep the maga crowd out of power so we can expand the court and reform it. How Thomas and Alito can still be on the bench and so obviously compromised is boggling to the mind.
The silver lining is that we will NOT be forced to live with the warped legal reasoning that the current crop SCOTUS justices have used. In a perfect world, Stare Decisis would mean the judges would need better reasons to override precedent other than the fact that they dont like the previous decision.
I was looking forward to what you would write about this and I think this is one of your finest editions, as you lay out the roadmap to where we are. Throughout all your writings, I have believed that everything along that roadmap "...was deeply alarming, but it also felt fixable...", as you write. I agree that this will take decades to undo.
I don't understand why Roberts can't see that (even chastising the dissenting justices!). He didn't see the aftermath of Citizens United so maybe he's not capable, doesn't care, but mostly has bought in.
Thank you so much for your ongoing clarity and for sharing your soul with us. We will not give up.
As so many Law School profs have noted, their traditional syllabus regarding constitutional law has been superseded by this rogue, runaway SCOTUS, as what once thought to be inviolable principles have been run through a far-right, grotesquely partisan shredder, casting away even safe assumptions about - you know - "the rule of law".
We now have an all-powerful judiciary whose sole purpose - aside from destruction of the Administrative State - is to provide an Article Two bullet-proof shield for tRump personally, let there be no doubt about that. *tRump v US is a personalized get-out-of-jail-free card carefully crafted for tRump and tRump alone, shamelessly given, with zero regard to in fact was the Founders' principal intent of eliminating a monarchal form of self-government, incorporating a variety of "checks and balances" that in this latest decision SCOTUS tossed to the winds.
Dire, dire times ahead, with only one election separating this country from a dictatorship.
But staying on brand as a dick, I have to point out that if one first noticed bad things happening only starting ca. 2015, one hasn’t been paying attention.
One's inclined to point a starting point to Reagan and PATCO and the commitment to neoliberalism -- government getting and keeping out of business' way -- then later Newt Gingrich's blowing up bipartisanship as SOP in Congress. But maybe as important is Carter taking the first step in blowing up the administrative state. Meanwhile, the Roberts court has clearly been focused on putting party before law since at least Shelby County.
So as David said, this all has been a long time coming but actually a couple of decades longer than he said.
During that time, we lost the Democratic party as any sort of the opposition party we needed. Indeed, it was more a party of enablers for the GOP what with its focus on serving the same special interests as the GOP. Note that the operative word there is serving; lip service is something else and of course isn't a match for actions.
By way of thought experiment: consider what would have happened if Obama made a BFD out McConnell's blocking the Garland nomination. I cannot believe things would be worse than what actually happened in 2016 through Monday past. I think 20/20 hindsight isn't needed to be sure that Clinton would have been elected, maybe even with a D senate majority.
Examples of Democrat submission could fill a book but one or two more:
The pushback from Roe was pretty clear. If not earlier, then the passage of the Hyde amendment was a fucking clear sign that Roe's lasting could not be assumed. Well, we know how that one played out.
The Republicans blocked the federal government from funding studies of gun violence; the Dems' response was a complete lack of any action since.
And so on and so forth. Can't say that what happened Monday and was possible wouldn't have happened with an opposition party that opposed but it would still be in the future.
I'm going and now am boring me so a quickie:
The "liberal" media (actually establishment media which is to say status quo-supporting and conservative; that liberal there is just a right wing slur) is a huge part of the problem.
Too: there's been all this buzz that the election had the US on the cusp of an existential crisis. Well, it actually arrived Monday. We're in it. Biden fired the first shot Monday; SCOTUS has made Trump's election something about which there's no doubt that it must be blocked. Biden put the fear of all that's holy in the minds of all but the close-minded: Trump must not be reelected, no question. 🙏🏻 that the party keeps on that theme and, if successful, delivers. (The failure to deliver is of course what pushes the little people to wanting a dictator. Of course, Trump is as unfit for that role as he was to be POTUS but that's another rant.)
I am a Holocaust scholar. Obviously that includes the rise of fascism and the rapid decline into dictatorship beforehand. This was beautiful. Thank you for writing this.
First it was Loper Bright, now this. The worst power grab by the Supreme Court in US history, followed by the court declaring, in effect, that presidents should have the powers of kings.
They gut the capacity of federal agencies (and the excutive) to work. They allow bribes to givernment officials. Blanket immununity. Obey the Constitution only when it suits them. They were SO FAR AHEAD iof us all, that I think the next thing to drop is court-sanctioned voter suppression in a few key areas so the Useful Idiot felon wins.
Even if Biden wins in November, this was a coup plain and simple.
We vote/donate/campaign/drag people to the polls. That's the required next action but for how long? I don't have words for how much I deplore McConnell and the Repubs who could have stopped this. But that hate won't change the future. And right now, I feel like all I have is fear and hate. And fear. And fear.
I am as blown away as anyone else by this shattering twist and fear for our democracy, but not surprised in the least. Of course the appointed judges will be swayed. Duh. Every life lost defending our democracy, meaningless. What a sad time for us.
I understand. I have just become less and less patient. What used to be simple disagreements are now moral choices. We are no longer talking about normal disagreements about discrete policy items. But I most certainly understand the dimension of longstanding friendships.
This is the culmination of a project hundreds of years in the planning, from when Thomas Jefferson observed back in his day that 'the aristocracy is trying to strangle the republic in its cradle.'
Lincoln wrote this in 1864:
“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”
—U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia: The Spoken and Written Words of A. Lincoln
Arranged for Ready Reference, Archer H. Shaw (NY, NY: Macmillan, 1950)
Lost to history is the attempted coup on FDR in the '30s known as 'The Businessmen Plot (or 'The Wall Street Putsch') organized by top Wall Street magnates, including Prescott Bush of Brown Brothers Harriman.
We are now in the end game. What we see as perhaps as inexplicable is the bowing of societal forces to the incoming Cristo-fascist overlords, because they foresee their victory.
Very sobering. What recourse do we have beyond voting and demanding the Press grapple with the deep predicament our democracy faces at the hands of the Cprrupt SCOTUS authoritarian enablers?
Heather Cox Richardson shared that several of the justices had previously said the president was absolutely NOT immune. Why have they changed their minds in a ruling like this? Why can't the senate hold a hearing requiring them to explain that, under oath? Do we, the people, have no recourse when it comes to SCOTUS?
I think this republican SCOTUS judges delaying to favor trump. at the end of the day, i suspect not much will change. presidents are only immune for "official acts.". This is similar to the standard from the Nixon case in that "official acts" will likely be defined something like "within the normally accepted boundaries of their job description." This issue is GOING TO BE what happens when "official acts" are done in furtherance of a corrupt (unofficial) purpose.
The problem is that damn near everything a president does while in office is an official act.
That is EXACTLY what the evidentiary hearing will be about that Jack Smith will do w/ judge Chutkan. I suspect "official" will be equivalent to "expressed/delineated constitutional duties". Obstructing congressional duties, leading an insurrection, violating the espionage act ect., are not official acts.
What about leaking intel to the Russians, illegally retaining classified documents, demanding quid pro quos from Zelensky, etc?
Or, like Nixon, ordering a burglary? How about ordering a murder?
the list is to long to fully delineate here :(
Very sobering. The deep arrogance is terrifying and should be, for us all.
This ruling means that colluding with Putin is legitimate, that trying to bribe Zelenskyy was part of official duties, and so on and on. Offering to shoot BLM protestors.
Thank you for your continued courage and clearsightedness.
We have been betrayed by the liars calling themselves SC Justices. They told us they believed in the rule of law in their Senate hearings then swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Yesterday every one of them that signed the opinion giving Trump keys to the Kingdom betrayed the US and all of us. It was quite simply a Coup d'etat by deceit. And everyone of them should be forced to stand down, resign their office and apologize to the American people.
I think the silver lining here is that Stare Decisis is dead....the current roster on SCOTUS has killed it. We need a few new justices to simply reverse the last several sessions of their decisions. Just another reason to do anything/everything we can to keep the maga crowd out of power so we can expand the court and reform it. How Thomas and Alito can still be on the bench and so obviously compromised is boggling to the mind.
What? You think the abandonment of stare decisis is a "silver lining"?
The silver lining is that we will NOT be forced to live with the warped legal reasoning that the current crop SCOTUS justices have used. In a perfect world, Stare Decisis would mean the judges would need better reasons to override precedent other than the fact that they dont like the previous decision.
Oh, I see. In 2 or 3 decades we can replace these right wing puppets. Got it.
I was looking forward to what you would write about this and I think this is one of your finest editions, as you lay out the roadmap to where we are. Throughout all your writings, I have believed that everything along that roadmap "...was deeply alarming, but it also felt fixable...", as you write. I agree that this will take decades to undo.
I don't understand why Roberts can't see that (even chastising the dissenting justices!). He didn't see the aftermath of Citizens United so maybe he's not capable, doesn't care, but mostly has bought in.
Thank you so much for your ongoing clarity and for sharing your soul with us. We will not give up.
As so many Law School profs have noted, their traditional syllabus regarding constitutional law has been superseded by this rogue, runaway SCOTUS, as what once thought to be inviolable principles have been run through a far-right, grotesquely partisan shredder, casting away even safe assumptions about - you know - "the rule of law".
We now have an all-powerful judiciary whose sole purpose - aside from destruction of the Administrative State - is to provide an Article Two bullet-proof shield for tRump personally, let there be no doubt about that. *tRump v US is a personalized get-out-of-jail-free card carefully crafted for tRump and tRump alone, shamelessly given, with zero regard to in fact was the Founders' principal intent of eliminating a monarchal form of self-government, incorporating a variety of "checks and balances" that in this latest decision SCOTUS tossed to the winds.
Dire, dire times ahead, with only one election separating this country from a dictatorship.
Great piece, David. Thanks.
But staying on brand as a dick, I have to point out that if one first noticed bad things happening only starting ca. 2015, one hasn’t been paying attention.
One's inclined to point a starting point to Reagan and PATCO and the commitment to neoliberalism -- government getting and keeping out of business' way -- then later Newt Gingrich's blowing up bipartisanship as SOP in Congress. But maybe as important is Carter taking the first step in blowing up the administrative state. Meanwhile, the Roberts court has clearly been focused on putting party before law since at least Shelby County.
So as David said, this all has been a long time coming but actually a couple of decades longer than he said.
During that time, we lost the Democratic party as any sort of the opposition party we needed. Indeed, it was more a party of enablers for the GOP what with its focus on serving the same special interests as the GOP. Note that the operative word there is serving; lip service is something else and of course isn't a match for actions.
By way of thought experiment: consider what would have happened if Obama made a BFD out McConnell's blocking the Garland nomination. I cannot believe things would be worse than what actually happened in 2016 through Monday past. I think 20/20 hindsight isn't needed to be sure that Clinton would have been elected, maybe even with a D senate majority.
Examples of Democrat submission could fill a book but one or two more:
The pushback from Roe was pretty clear. If not earlier, then the passage of the Hyde amendment was a fucking clear sign that Roe's lasting could not be assumed. Well, we know how that one played out.
The Republicans blocked the federal government from funding studies of gun violence; the Dems' response was a complete lack of any action since.
And so on and so forth. Can't say that what happened Monday and was possible wouldn't have happened with an opposition party that opposed but it would still be in the future.
I'm going and now am boring me so a quickie:
The "liberal" media (actually establishment media which is to say status quo-supporting and conservative; that liberal there is just a right wing slur) is a huge part of the problem.
Too: there's been all this buzz that the election had the US on the cusp of an existential crisis. Well, it actually arrived Monday. We're in it. Biden fired the first shot Monday; SCOTUS has made Trump's election something about which there's no doubt that it must be blocked. Biden put the fear of all that's holy in the minds of all but the close-minded: Trump must not be reelected, no question. 🙏🏻 that the party keeps on that theme and, if successful, delivers. (The failure to deliver is of course what pushes the little people to wanting a dictator. Of course, Trump is as unfit for that role as he was to be POTUS but that's another rant.)
My Congressman, Joe Morelle: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4750735-joe-morelle-amendment-supreme-court-immunity-ruling/
As long as they keep hammering away at this and, of course, don’t help the Republicans by failing to deliver for us after being elected.
We’re past the talk and empty promises are enough stage.
As my old rant goes, step one is voting the GOP out of power on all levels then a purge of the Dems of DINOs and inside traders.
Yo, his wife is named Mary. Are you Mrs. Morelle?
No.
People noticed. They -- we -- thought the system was strong enough to defend against the worst. We were wrong.
I am a Holocaust scholar. Obviously that includes the rise of fascism and the rapid decline into dictatorship beforehand. This was beautiful. Thank you for writing this.
First it was Loper Bright, now this. The worst power grab by the Supreme Court in US history, followed by the court declaring, in effect, that presidents should have the powers of kings.
They gut the capacity of federal agencies (and the excutive) to work. They allow bribes to givernment officials. Blanket immununity. Obey the Constitution only when it suits them. They were SO FAR AHEAD iof us all, that I think the next thing to drop is court-sanctioned voter suppression in a few key areas so the Useful Idiot felon wins.
Even if Biden wins in November, this was a coup plain and simple.
We vote/donate/campaign/drag people to the polls. That's the required next action but for how long? I don't have words for how much I deplore McConnell and the Repubs who could have stopped this. But that hate won't change the future. And right now, I feel like all I have is fear and hate. And fear. And fear.
I am as blown away as anyone else by this shattering twist and fear for our democracy, but not surprised in the least. Of course the appointed judges will be swayed. Duh. Every life lost defending our democracy, meaningless. What a sad time for us.
Thanks David. This is TPM on
Substack. Let's see what the
NYTimes, WaPo, WSJ, FOX
and others print and say.
I tried talking to a really good
friend about this last night
and all she could discuss was
our open border, thousands
of illegals shipped in by truck
loads, gang members,
murderers, that all the major
news stations were talking
about this.🙄 I finally said she
needed to do some good
research, that I'd had enough
and goodbye.
Democracy at stake and
she's talking bushwa. Oh!
And she and husband aren't
voting. Haven't voted since
2016.
"Illegals"?
That's what she called them.
And she is a good friend? I can no longer suffer people like that. Life is too short.
I've known her for 20 years
and she's never been like this
before. I will be watching
what happens between us in
the near future.
I understand. I have just become less and less patient. What used to be simple disagreements are now moral choices. We are no longer talking about normal disagreements about discrete policy items. But I most certainly understand the dimension of longstanding friendships.
Yes, I agree and I have to
proceed with caution. What
a way to look at frienship
any more. This is what Trump
has done to our country.
This is the culmination of a project hundreds of years in the planning, from when Thomas Jefferson observed back in his day that 'the aristocracy is trying to strangle the republic in its cradle.'
Lincoln wrote this in 1864:
“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”
—U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia: The Spoken and Written Words of A. Lincoln
Arranged for Ready Reference, Archer H. Shaw (NY, NY: Macmillan, 1950)
Lost to history is the attempted coup on FDR in the '30s known as 'The Businessmen Plot (or 'The Wall Street Putsch') organized by top Wall Street magnates, including Prescott Bush of Brown Brothers Harriman.
We are now in the end game. What we see as perhaps as inexplicable is the bowing of societal forces to the incoming Cristo-fascist overlords, because they foresee their victory.
Very sobering. What recourse do we have beyond voting and demanding the Press grapple with the deep predicament our democracy faces at the hands of the Cprrupt SCOTUS authoritarian enablers?