Presidential Immunity Revisited

[batmagadanleadoff]

It still should be shocking. The litigation to determine official from unofficial will take years.

That's not even the half of it. After years and years to litigate what's official and what's unofficial, what was the President immune from and what wasn't he immune from --- it'll all end up back with SCOTUS.
And when that day comes, SCOTUS will decide everything in Trump's favor*, granting him total immunity from everything. It didn't have to issue that ruling today. It merely had to remand to the lower court to start another merry-go-round of litigation.

*Unless the Dems will have dismantled this iteration of SCOTUS by then, or unless Trump wins in November, killing the entire litigation by himself and rendering further judicial review of this matter as moot or unnecessary.

[metsmarathon]

well... we almost made it 250 years.... it sure was a nice experiment while it lasted.

[Lefty Specialist]

We are so fucked.

Yup. they actually gave Trump more than he asked for. This totally screws the other cases as they'll be trapped in Official/Unofficial litigation for years. That goes for the Georgia case too. Ketanji Brown Jackson called this a five-alarm fire for democracy, and she was underplaying it.

Well, at least this knocks the 'Biden had a bad debate' story off the front pages.

[batmagadanleadoff]

We are so fucked.

Ketanji Brown Jackson called this a five-alarm fire for democracy, and she was underplaying it.

Well, at least this knocks the 'Biden had a bad debate' story off the front pages.

It's a five alarm fire, but so are so many other of this court's other decisions that are kind of under the radar because they're esoteric and involve issues not easily grasped by the average person. This version of SCOTUS is truly about as horrible a high court as there ever was.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, the more I read, the more I shake my head at. No, no, no.

[batmagadanleadoff]

The President is now a King. He could now openly accept five million dollars in exchange for a Presidential pardon without fear of prosecution because the Presidential pardon power is one of the President's official acts.

[TransMonk]

All hail, King Biden! Destroy all challengers to the throne!

[MFS62]

All hail, King Biden! Destroy all challengers to the throne!

Executed for treason.
On pay-for-view. Cleans up the garbage and helps to balance the budget.
A win-win.
(only half joking)
Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

I'm probably gonna cut Merrick the Meek some revisionist slack. It wouldn't have mattered if Garland started the Trump litigation a year or a year and a half earlier than he actually did. The deck is so obviously and unfairly stacked in favor of Trump that this corrupt and condescending, gaslighting SCOTUS would have simply come up with a different way to undermine the litigation against Trump.

[Lefty Specialist]

Perhaps, but I would have appreciated him not sitting on his hands for almost two years.

This decision, Chevron (which guts government oversight of, well, pretty much anything), Dobbs and beyond, this is a Supreme Court so off the rails and partisan that it has to be reined in. Don't ask me how. Maybe Biden could use his new powers to disappear four or five of them. Thomas should be arrested on bribery charges right now.

One thing is for certain- Trump or any Republican cannot become president until this gets fixed.

[MFS62]

Thomas should be arrested on bribery charges right now.

AND tax evasion. Biden could sic the IRS on him today. He could be in jail by election time. Alito , too.
And Biden could get two Democrats on the court to replace them before the election.
(I can dream, can't I?)
Later

[Lefty Specialist]

Sonia Sotomayor explains it for you:

“When [the president] uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune. Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends. Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be. That is the majority’s message today. Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”

[batmagadanleadoff]

Former US Senator Claire McCaskill is so enraged about this decision that commenting on MSNBC, she said "bullshit", "horseshit" and "horse-hockey".

[batmagadanleadoff]

Former US Senator Claire McCaskill is so enraged about this decision that commenting on MSNBC, she said "bullshit", "horseshit" and "horse-hockey".

And following up Claire, Mia Wiley asked is she could "drop the F-bomb"?

[TransMonk]

Looks like Trump is going to try to use this to get the NY conviction thrown out too.

This is about as bad as Bill Barr’s total exoneration summary of the Mueller Report.

[Edgy MD]

Because falsifying business records prior to his election is somehow official presidential conduct?

I'm not sure I see New York taking that sitting down.

[Lefty Specialist]

It's all about the delay. He doesn't want to be sentenced before the election. I hope Merchan tells him to stuff it and gives him prison time.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Maybe Biden could use his new powers to disappear four or five of them. Thomas should be arrested on bribery charges right now.

I'd like to see that happen as much as you do. But if Biden tried to do that, SCOTUS would create an exception to its new rule to thwart the move and to punish Biden severely. Today's corrupt SCOTUS decision is meant to benefit Republican Presidents only, not Democratic Presidents. Guaranteed.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Maybe Biden could use his new powers to disappear four or five of them. Thomas should be arrested on bribery charges right now.

I'd like to see that happen as much as you do. But if Biden tried to do that, SCOTUS would create an exception to its new rule to thwart the move and to punish Biden severely. Today's corrupt SCOTUS decision is meant to benefit Republican Presidents only, not Democratic Presidents. Guaranteed.

Because by now, it's as plain as day that this SCOTUS doesn't give a flying fuck about how hypocritical or absurd it sounds. It's gonna keep on shoveling the shit down our throats until someone or something stops them.

So if it has to, it'll give Trump a pass but punish Biden for the same acts.

There's no other fix but to take out this court, which is a lot easier said than done.

[Lefty Specialist]

Yeah I thought they'd be concerned about the optics. I was obviously wrong. They're a runaway train and nothing is safe.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Yeah I thought they'd be concerned about the optics. I was obviously wrong. They're a runaway train and nothing is safe.

Yeah. But it's decisions like yesterday's that have to happen for enough momentum to build to make drastic changes. I'm not even sure that yesterday's decision is enough. I worry that by the time it's plainly obvious to everybody, it will be too late, if it isn't already. It's hard enough flipping just one seat. SCOTUS has been conservative majority for about 50 years now, going back to Nixon's second term, even though the country is majority liberal and Democratic. But we have a bizarre, byzantine Rube Goldberg-like laughing stock system for electing politicians and a corrupt SCOTUS that has been methodically building a brick wall brick by brick to seal off its targeted voters.

[metsmarathon]

yeah... it would be one thing if the court was "conservative".

unfortunately, the only thing it appears to be is corrupt.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Remember three years ago when Mitch McConnell said during the time of Trump's second impeachment that: ‘We have a criminal justice system in this country… And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable."?

That was so funny back then. And even funnier now.

[MFS62]

Here's a suggestion to Biden on how he can use his new court- approved powers:
https://newrepublic.com/article/183422/ ... nald-trump

SPOILER ALERT; I wouldn't pardon Graham.

Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

I'm probably gonna cut Merrick the Meek some revisionist slack. It wouldn't have mattered if Garland started the Trump litigation a year or a year and a half earlier than he actually did. The deck is so obviously and unfairly stacked in favor of Trump that this corrupt and condescending, gaslighting SCOTUS would have simply come up with a different way to undermine the litigation against Trump.

Fran Lebowitz on Bill Maher's show a few weeks ago.