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299

Right-Wing Supreme Court Rules Trump Has 'Absolute Immunity' for Official Acts (www.commondreams.org)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

70 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17119069

"In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law," warned Justice Sonia Sotomayor. "With fear for our democracy, I dissent."

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[–] [email protected] 112 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Cool, Biden should use those new get out of jail free cards to do a lot of shit to improve the lives of Americans and probibit Project 2025.

The party about of rule of law just got told it's rule of law to just do whatever as president, so go nuts. Pack the court. Forcibly remove the supreme Court. Ignore it.

Hell the constitution never even said the Court has the right to interpret and block laws, that was due to the Court expanding its own power. We just went with it because Jefferson had his own Xanatos Gambit played on him.

Come on Biden do something really cool with this, make them regret it.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Have the GoP and the traitors on the supreme court taste the death penalty. Then repeal all this crap they put in place (no way to override the GoP all being dead after the fact. I'd go with banishment or any other number of things if it was guaranteed to work, but the only thing that can't potentially be lifted after the fact is death)

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[–] [email protected] 110 points 10 months ago (2 children)

So, open season for Biden to get some Supreme Court justices an "early retirement" then?

[–] [email protected] 36 points 10 months ago

Be sure that everyone knows it's official and then sleep easy.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 10 months ago

Yes, but in classic dem fashion he’ll do absolutely nothing with this new power, and also do nothing to stop its use. Then will continue running a dogshit campaign to get trump re-elected come November. We are well and truly fucked.

[–] [email protected] 76 points 10 months ago (5 children)

I was genuinely not expecting this. As little reason as this Supreme Court has given to inspire confidence, I thought this was a bridge too. I feel sick to my stomach.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's absolutely sickening. The fact they took up the case to begin with was sickening. We need Biden to take hold of this decision and make some official acts that can restore democracy. Biden can be the first president since Washington to do what Washington did, heal our nation and then surrender power back to We the People. Dead King Geoge III is laughing at us and the blood of the American Revolution groans in disgust at these Injustices!

[–] [email protected] 35 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"We can go lower."

-SCOTUS

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago

and how

[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I had felt the same way, until they ruled that partisan gerrymandering is constitutionally protected, that racial gerrymandering can only be unconstitutional if it doesn't provide a partisan advantage to one side, and that the court must assume that legislators are acting in good faith because their need to not be embarrassed outweighs the constitutional rights of the people and the need for honest elections. I read that decision and said "shit, they're gonna rule that Trump's immune."

I never thought the Court would put out a decision that could rival Dred Scott for worst in history, but these asshole's have put out multiple contenders for that title in a single term.

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[+] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In her dissent, Sotomayor made it pretty clear that that doesn’t matter.

"When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority's reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution," Sotomayor wrote. "Orders the Navy's SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Immune, immune, immune."

"In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law," the justice added.

[+] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Yeah I hear you, but that door they left open is exactly why it doesn’t matter. By not defining official acts, they essentially gave themselves the authority to make that determination later, which means anything done as president can be considered official, as long as they say so. This was another power grab for them and any republicans who want to use it, but you can be sure the rules would be different for democrats.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If Biden were to use his powers to force the 6 conservative Supreme Court Justices out, then there wouldn't be anybody on the court who would disagree with the minority interpretation.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This here. As a European I am extremely worried about what is coming in US politics. I really really hope Biden will make use of this with foolproof consequences.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 10 months ago (2 children)

If Biden does the exact same thing as the orange turd, the packed courts will rule that Biden's actions were not official but the angry orange's were.

The decision is entirely a power grab that will be abused by conservatives and not by anyone with morals. That is what these fascists are counting on.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Biden could unpack those courts as an official act and pack it with his own judges, who would rule on the outcome.

This is obviously what Trump would do in the same position. But it's highly doubtful that Biden will.

It would set an insanely dangerous precedent. But if he doesn't, Republicans will the next time they hold the presidency.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Biden for King 2024! Vote blue! Brought to you by conservative Chief Justice Roberts.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sooo strip trump of his citizenship, and remove the Supreme court members that are in his pocket, reestablish new judges via voting. Create new ammendment that the president can and will be held accountable for breaking the law

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 10 months ago

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

We're setting up for an extremely dark period in American history. Buckle up fuckleheads

[–] [email protected] 37 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Well, fellow Americans. This experiment with democracy was fun while it lasted. Every significant goal of the founding fathers has been systematically thwarted by these Christofascists. We once again have a de-facto monarch.

The consequences of this decision will be dire, and unpredictable. Every law, every right, every freedom can now be undone by an official wave of the president’s hand. Rights to privacy? Gone. Due process? Gone. Bill of Rights? Gone.

No one—democrat or republican—should be happy about this. The right to bear arms is now on the chopping block right along with LGBTQ+ and abortion rights.

Hopefully I’m wrong. Hopefully I’m misreading the situation. But it sure sounds like every right that previously defined us as American people now hinges on the benevolence of our president. Americans can no longer brag about “American freedom.”

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

This experiment with democracy

I agree with the thrust of your comment, but I think it's an overstatement to say the US was ever a democracy.

Our country is an imperial power that was built ontop of a genocide, by slaves, to support white male property owners. It was always designed as an oligarchy with features like the electoral college to make sure the will of the people could never compete with the will of the powerful. Policy outcomes haven't reflected public opinion on any major issues since the 70s.

I'd say what's going on is moving from a broad oligarchy to a narrower more centralized oligarchy. Which is still moving in the wrong direction and will definitely make life worse for most Americans.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 10 months ago

The six conservative SCOTUS members have just openly told everyone that they are fascists who want to destroy democracy. There is a detailed solution to this kind of tyranny.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 10 months ago

So Biden could just seal team 6 half the Supreme Court plus Trump, and it would be legal as long as he officially says he did it afterward?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

You guys haven't seen shit yet.

Biden is going to "win" the 2024 election, Trump will sue & SCotUS will hand him the crown.

#KingBiden must act to restore our #Democracy.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It's important to remember that Republicans are committed to ending democracy because the majority of people do not support their brutal white supremacist vision for the country.

If they had majority support they wouldn't be illegally seizing and destroying the institutions of governance.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

In years past, your comment might sound like hyperbole. But not so these days: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/the-wa-gop-put-it-in-writing-that-theyre-not-into-democracy/

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The devolution will not be televised.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

Very true, very real.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

So Biden could order the army to attack the USSC? He just has to declare it officially like Michael Scott?

I joke, but it's a dark, dark day for this country and the rule of law.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Usually they'd have to refuse an illegal order, but as any official act of the president is explicitly legal, such things no longer exist.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

It does appear to be legal now, until the lower court hears arguments, and it goes back to the Supreme Court for a final decision. This ruling seems to be a delay, so that Trump can take office, at which point this ruling doesn’t matter.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago

In other news, everything GOP presidents do is official and everything DEM presidents do is private.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

This decision so blatantly ignores the constitution, history, tradition, case law, and all available evidence, that I have to question why they even bothered writing such a long decision. They might as well have just said "Fuck it, we say Trump is immune. Eat shit America, we can do whatever we want."

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Even discussing this ruling is pointless, because words no longer have legal meaning. Even if he was so inclined, Biden wouldn't be allowed to take advantage of this concept of immunity. We're just making up whatever shit we want and calling it Law.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Pretty much. The reality that this is has always been the case is finally smacking everyone upside the head. If there is no consistent application of the law, laws become meaningless. Might then makes right, and bedlam follows. America has been on a dangerous path for decades, this ruling is the the turn. Conservatives are displaying that they want Trump as dictator, and will do everything in their power to make that happen.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I was thinking Pres Biden does all the stuff we seem to want him to, resigns and Pres Harris pardons him.

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