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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
The Supreme Court almost immediately granted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Monday request for expedited consideration—a highly unusual rapid response that highlights the historic nature of the case.
Smith wants the court to weigh in on the question of whether former president Donald Trump has absolute presidential immunity for crimes he’s accused of carrying out while in the White House.
In its response, the high court ordered Trump’s attorneys to file a reply to Smith’s petition by next Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 4 p.m. ET.
The Supreme Court’s Monday decision does not mean it will take up the case—it simply means the nine-judge panel will make that decision on a much faster timeline than it normally would.
Jack Smith clearly has more faith in the Supreme Court doing the right thing than I do.
I dunno, maybe this is wishful thinking but to me it seems like a good play. If they rule in favor of him, they’re even more likely to win the other trials. If they rule in favor of Trump, they’re risking their own necks because they’d be giving Biden free reign to do literally whatever he wants. Threading the needle and deciding something like only Trump is allowed, or only in this specific case it’s ok, has no legal justification whatsoever and Roberts isn’t crazy enough to attempt it.
I like your premise, but I think conservatives know that normal people don’t use the Oval Office to commit crimes. That’s strictly conservative behavior. Thus, a ruling for Trump would effectively be a ruling to protect conservative presidents.
The White House has ALWAYS been used to commit crimes, it’s part of the job description. The difference is the TYPES of crimes Trump committed.
Enabling, or commiting, mass murder is NOT something the courts can come down on POTUS for, as it’s part of the load bearing structure of our empire, no matter how illegal or immoral.
Paying off pornstars and publicly refusing to return stolen classified national security documents, is so far outside the “norms” of “acceptable” Executive Branch criminal activity that their prosecution doesn’t risk setting a precedent of holding future Presidents accountable for the myriad of crimes they will ALL commit i.e. war crimes.
In the last 100 years, I think conservative presidents are more widely recognized for their crimes in office. Nixon, Bush Sr., Bush Jr., Trump.
I don’t really consider the Clinton BJ scandal to rise to the label of “criminal behavior” the way killing people or destroying foreign governments to benefit corporations does. But that is where the left and the right seem to differ on what behaviors should be most frowned upon. I think the left and right just value human lives differently.
I throught that my specific and intentional language around violence and death made it clear that I wasn’t talking about sex scandals.
Do you really think that only Republican administrations advance the goals of American empire and neo-colonialism? If so, then I hope one day you start reading books.
But, if you’re not that naive and do understand that Presidents of both parties advance those goals, I’d ask you how you think empires are built, maintained, or expanded?
You have far more faith that people won’t just choose to do the outright insane thing than I do.
I do in this case because Roberts has shown us before that he cares about his legacy. And if he were to (potentially) hand Trump the keys to the kingdom, he’d have to deal with whatever backlash Biden or congress give him first.
Let’s be honest, congress has been a group of self-serving ancients who would rather dig their heads in the sand than actually govern. I don’t know that congress would step up here even in this case.
I do think that Biden would be forced to directly deal with the court and then that would create a constitutional crisis kind of mess that will make 2024 even more awful that it’s already looking to be.
Hopefully Roberts understands that.
As the previous commenter said, Roberts has demonstrated many times that he cares about the fact that this court will go down in history as the Roberts court, and that it will forever be remembered for Dobbs. He has attempted over and over again to earn back that status of legitimacy, from issuing the first ever code of ethics to rejecting a challenge to the ban on gay conversion therapy.
I do not like SCOTUS at all, I think they’re a bunch of lying motherfuckers right now, but I also think Roberts recognizes the court is still on razor thin ice with the public because of Dobbs. I think they will not save Trump, especially since Trump has nothing to offer them in exchange.
Two of them literally owe Trump their seats on the court. Clarence Thomas and his wife were part of the team trying to help Trump overthrow the election.
They owe him their seat? Nah. That’s not how it works. In a metaphorical sense, sure, you could make that assumption, but the reality is that he literally can do nothing for them. Even if he wins 2024, he can do nothing to benefit them directly, especially not anything that any president couldn’t already do.