this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024
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[–] [email protected] 57 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (9 children)

There’s not much he can do short of committing a crime himself. Democrats don’t have control of the House, so there no way to increase the size of SCOTUS. They were smart in ruling bribery is legal before granting immunity, or Biden would have been able to officially order the DOJ to investigate SCOTUS for corruption.

His hands are tied unless he wants to get blood on them.

[–] [email protected] 78 points 9 months ago (2 children)

His hands are VERY TIED unless of course he decides whatever he does is Official Presidential Actions!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

The ruling just absolves him from criminal activity. It doesn’t give him complete power to increase the size of SCOTUS or retire Justices. He’d have to order a hit on a Justice to leverage that ruling, and that is an act of an insane person.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 9 months ago (1 children)

How about house arrest for their "protection"? Developing countries do that all the time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Can they, though? I’m sure there’s some 200 year old policy about having all ballots cast into the straw hat behind the vending machine on a Thursday afternoon between 3 and 5, in order to count.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Not if you cut the power.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (8 children)

Is that an act of an insane person? It's apparently legal, now. Do you broadly think that using violence against tyranny is insane? Our founders committed their lives and fortunes to the violent overthrow of tyranny. It would be much easier, sitting in the oval office, with legal authority granted to him by the very people he would be targeting, to authorize the extrajudicial execution of a few traitors. Do you think that extrajudicial execution is insane? Then you'll have to admit that most presidents in the last few decades were insane, especially Obama. Is it only insane when the target is white people in power, rather than brown-skinned people overseas?

I'm not commenting, at this time, on whether it would be moral, or wise, but insane? I can't see how.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

If there were 5 justices, they'd still be functional. As proven in the past, there's no requirement for 9.

Esit: I'd - > If

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

It changed size six times before settling on nine Justices in 1869. Each time it was determined by a congressional vote. It’s not up to POTUS, it’s up to Congress.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It ran at 8 for quite a while. No one's legitimately saying those decisions don't count.

The official number can be whatever. Congress doesn't get to nominate. And SCOTUS would keep deciding.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Do you understand that Congress needs to vote on the number of Justices?

I’m not talking about the vote on the nominee, but the actual number of Justices.

It is currently nine, and will remain nine, until Congress votes on a different number.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm not the one being slow. SCOTUS had 8 people while McConnell held up Garland.

Officially SCOTUS was and is nine people. But if the wheels of government turn slow enough, SCOTUS continues to do its job with whoever has made it through the process.

Officially 9, it functioned with 8. No one is credibly saying all those decisions must be thrown out or that SCOTUS cannot function during a shortage.

If that shortage was 4, people would be vocal. But legally, it would still be functional.

I not talking about changing the official number. I never did in this thread until you did.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You started this conversation by suggesting Biden “packs the Supreme Court.”

There are no vacancies. That means congressional vote to increase the number of Justices.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That was the start of this thread. I’m sorry I didn’t notice you were a different commenter.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

No worries. Have absolutely done the same in the past.

And I'll take the moment to salute your reliance on fact and citation. Wish more people did the same.

Cheers

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

With the excessive misinformation out there, we need to work together to get to the truth. Thank you for being so understanding about my mistake.

Have a good night.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

So let's say, hypothetically.

The president thought that people shouldn't eat chocolate ice cream. It's anti-american.

And "for the good of the country" anyone who eats chocolate ice cream has to be isolated from the rest of society.

That's not an official act. It's not really on the periphery of official acts.

But because definitionally, anything that, at the president's sole discretion, is "in the best interest of the United States" is now argued as an official act.

Biden likes vanilla ice cream.
But he isn't going to detain you for unamerican activities if you prefer chocolate ice cream.

Choose freedom! Choose chocolate ice cream!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

You don’t understand the ruling.

It is not giving POTUS any additional authority. It grants POTUS immunity from criminal prosecution of a crime related to an official act.

Biden could personally slap the ice cream cone out of your hand and get away with it, if a court ruled it to be an official act. No one else is immune from crime committed on his behalf.

This was tailored to Trump’s insurrection charges. If SCOTUS granted POTUS more executive privilege, Biden would just overrule SCOTUS and exempt felons from presidential candidacy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

You're so close to getting it.

I hope that you can connect the dots.

Dip-n-dots.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If being in contact with the DOJ and VP is "official duties" and thus immune to prosecution regardless of the content of the contact, then being in contact with the CIA and asking them to "retire" some justices should be as well under more or less exactly the same line of reasoning.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

CIA are barred from enacting operations on US soil. It would have to be DOD or FBI unless they were abroad.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 28 points 9 months ago

Blood on his hands from BLM protesters, Palestinians, trans people, Ukrainians who could use the support more than Israel, most Americans who don't have enough to live with life threatening illnesses, Mexicans at the border, ignoring COVID...

Fuck the Court. It doesn't care about America. The penalty for teason is...?

If you or I did anything close to what Trump and the Courts did and do on a daily basis we'd be arrested in a high security prison. Jan 6th had next to no punishment for any of the leaders.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

It's literally not a crime if the president does it.

There's lots he can do besides killing people if you are creative.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

He can pack the supreme court. Then limit it to something tangible.

Like first, say that 2 senators per state is silly and it needs to be based on population like the house if reps. Then say that we need a supreme court justice from all 50 states + D.C. or some shit.

Boom.

Then term limits, age limits... Ranked choice, strict laws in gerrymandering...

And we have a functioning Republic again.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (17 children)

None of that is in within the power of POTUS.

The structure of Congress is determined by The Constitution and its Amendments.

Congress needs to pass enlarging the Supreme Court with a vote, and Republicans have House majority.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Frankly? He needs to get on with that malicious compliance to graphically - and yes, in some cases violently - demonstrate why this is a terrible fucking idea. I’m genuinely not looking forward to it, but at the same time I do think it’s become absolutely necessary.

But I sincerely doubt he will.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Arrest the freedom Caucus and pass legislation to fix this before they can be replaced.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

To be fair. He just has to kill off the maga leadership. MAGAs are weak-minded followers, they will throw their impotent tantrums, then get distracted. The non-magas in the regressive party (gop) will cower then do their usual thing, hell most of them will instantly turn on maga when it has no teeth anymore. When he stops there, and normal Regressives don't get persecuted or attacked, and the US starts getting better, they will all carry on...and McConnel, who will still somehow be alive, will say it was all his idea.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

That's the funny thing. He cant commit crimes anymore. He's immune from the law. All he needs to do is order the military to destroy the corruption in the Supreme Court using the legal doctrine known as bullets in the brainpan. Poof, problem solved. You don't even have to kill people, just a few fascists.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

His hands are tied unless voters give him a mandate by voting all MAGAs out of office.