Gene Michael Stover
created Monday, 2024 July 1
updated ???
This is https://cybertiggyr.com/f1gw8k.html
In response to at least one of the many court cases against felon & former president Donald Trump, his legal team claimed that presidents & former presidents are immune to all legal prosecution.
On 2024 July 1, the Supreme Court issued a ruling on that. (The entire ruling is https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/.../scotus_immunity-7-1.pdf.)
Many news sources to which I listen claim that this ends democracy in the United States.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I think they are overreacting.
(Take note of note 1.)
The main point of the ruling is on its first page:
Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.
It has other details such as directly mentioning the conversations between then-president Donald Trump & then-vice-president Mike Pence about blocking the vote ratification ceremony. The court says that the conversation was official, therefore is immune.
Maybe I'm missing something, but instead of wrecking democracy, I think this tells us nothing new except that precedent stands (which is kind of astounding to hear from the current Supreme Court).
It only makes sense that a president must be immune from prosecution of their actions while executing official duties. Otherwise, they'd have to consult lawyers before doing anything lest they run the risk of spending the rest of their lives in jail. That's always been true, & in the nit-picky, law-bending, litigious environment we exist, you can bet your butt or other body part that it's true now.
It's even been official precedent since 1982. (See this Wikipedia page, second paragraph.)
The court explicitly says that there's no immunity from prosecution for unofficial acts. They left it to lower courts (a.k.a. the legal process) to figure out the line between official & unofficial acts.
I would have loved to hear the court reply with “Former president Trump, you belong in jail & with a gag in your mouth”, but the ruling they gave, while not nearly as entertaining, seems very reasonable. Or maybe I'm missing something.
I am not a lawyer (IANAL).
Statistically, you aren't either.
Hardly. The main threats to democracy in the United States are the Republican party & the ignorance that causes people to vote for it. That predates Trump-as-politician.
(Best description I ever heard of the Republican party: “Making the world safe from democracy”. I'm pretty sure I heard that first when Ronald {Mc}Reagan was president.)