Presidential immunity? The Appeals Court said, hell no

Donald Trump’s autocratic and notorious claim is that a president enjoys “absolute immunity” for every presidential action. He stretches this to the absurd, suggesting immunity would even shield a president ordering Seal Team 6 to assassinate political rivals.

This outrageous notion was what the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit shot down. Their unanimous decision was clear-cut:

‘Former President Trump’s stance would collapse our system of separated powers by placing the president beyond the reach of all three branches,’ they wrote. 

‘Presidential immunity against federal indictment would mean that, as to the president, the Congress could not legislate, the executive could not prosecute and the judiciary could not review. We cannot accept that the office of the presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter.’

(The New York Times, February 6, 2024)

That appellate ruling was so decisive and comprehensive that most legal analysts felt certain the Supreme Court wouldn’t even bother hearing Trump’s appeal. 

Besides, deciding to hear it would effectively reward Trump’s cynical tactic of delaying any federal trial until after the November presidential election. And he’s banking on winning this election and ordering his attorney general to dismiss all pending federal cases against him.

To this end, it has been patently obvious from the day the government indicted Trump that he’s not just gaming the US justice system; he’s making a mockery of it. This made all clear-eyed legal analysts believe the Supreme Court wouldn’t play along.

Presidential immunity? Supreme Court says, maybe

Today’s decision proved the legal analysts wrong:

The Supreme Court will review Donald Trump’s unprecedented claim that he is shielded from prosecution for actions taken while in office, further delaying the former president’s federal trial in the nation’s capital on charges of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss to remain in power. The justices set argument for the week of April 22 to consider a unanimous ruling from a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which on Feb. 6 rejected Trump’s sweeping assertion of immunity from prosecution. …

The timing suggests the high Court will resolve the dispute before its term ends in late June or early July, pushing any DC trial well into the presidential election season.

(The Washington Post, February 28, 2024)

Political hacks in judicial garb

I’ve been arguing this cynical view of Republican-appointed justices for years. We don’t know which justices voted to grant this de facto immunity. But I’d bet my life savings that every Republican-appointed justice voted to do so. 

Unfortunately, the Court has become a political arena, with even Democrat-appointed justices occasionally toeing party lines. But nobody can point to any on this Court who lied under oath and twisted their judicial philosophy into a pretzel to turn political talking points into court rulings. 

By contrast, I can point to at least five Republican-appointed justices who did. Moreover, Trump is such a guileless oaf that he publicly declared that he expects the three justices he nominated to do right by him.

I fear they will do just that by refusing to disqualify Trump under the 14th Amendment for engaging in insurrection. And this, despite the Constitution plainly stating that he should be disqualified. 

In the meantime, this decision conjures up how Democratic Justice Sonia Sotomayor famously rebuked her Republican colleagues. Because she warned that their political flatulence, airing as legal reasoning, was bringing out a stench that will linger in perpetuity. 

In essence, the Republican-appointed justices are showing they’re as eager to abet Trump’s despotic ambitions as their Congressional counterparts. Heaven forbid they let a Black judge, Tanya Chutkan, preside over a case that might jeopardize his reelection chances.

So, just as Republican senators gave Trump a pass at two impeachment trials, these Republican justices have given him de facto immunity. That’s why Democrats should boo when the justices are introduced at the SOTU address next month. Because you know Republicans will be hailing them.

Alas, with all due respect to the Washington Post, today’s Supreme Court decision shows that democracy dies in broad daylight.