(via Image Generator)
The Supreme Court took some time away from casually musing about whether dictionaries require letting women die on emergency room tables, to consider whether a former president of the United States has blanket, absolute immunity from all crimes committed in office. Or at least all crimes related to “official acts,” which Trump’s counsel suggested would extend to assassinating political rivals.
This is, of course, insane and ground that the Republic thoroughly covered over Nixon.
3 Ways Lawyers Are Finding New Efficiencies With AI
Those who’ve adopted legal-specific systems are seeing big benefits.
But while some justices see the Constitution as it is and ask, “Why?”, the right-wing of this Court dreams things that never were and ask, “Why not?”
BREAKING: Supreme Court that blocked vaccine mandates & struck down quarantine orders suddenly VERY concerned about immunity.
— Joe Patrice (@JosephPatrice) April 25, 2024
For the record, no, I do not want to “See the latest COVID-19 information on X.” But I’m sure Elon Musk has built a fabulous landing page for Joe Rogan and Aaron Rodgers to share their thoughts. On the other hand, we might have actually discovered something crazier than the hypotheticals on display today.
The Trump Gold Card: A New $1 Million Pathway To A U.S. Green Card
A new proposal would let wealthy foreign nationals secure an opportunity for a U.S. green card with a $1 million 'gift' to the government, sparking legal and ethical debate.
That's, uh, …. pic.twitter.com/wQs0UvWwa5
— Leah Litman (@LeahLitman) April 25, 2024
I stand corrected, oral argument was worse than the COVID freak page.
And while peddling batshit hypotheticals was the mission of the day for Trump’s team, Sauer couldn’t hold a candle to the energy coming from the Court’s right flank.
Ah. Much the same way he thought vaccine mandates were questionably effective, I suppose. In his defense, there were a lot of questions, it’s just that they were all repeatedly and conclusively resolved in Biden’s favor.
Alas, Sam was just getting warmed up:
Really really cool to watch Alito abandon all logic entirely by saying "leaving office peacefully is important, how could a president do that without immunity?" when the case in hand is literally about a president who did not leave office peacefully & instead tried a coup. pic.twitter.com/3BGRWcMd8p
— Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn) April 25, 2024
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Image via Frinkiac & Getty & my photoshop skills
Unwilling to let Alito have all the fun, Thomas decided to wax philosophic about all the past coups in American history.
Wait, what?
He’s asking about presidents overthrowing foreign governments like Allende in Chile or Árbenz in Guatemala. Personally, I thought that suggesting aid for an international coup would present the same bundle of domestic criminal justice issues as siccing a mob of slack-jawed armed hooligans on the U.S. Capitol would involve levels of mendacity that would give even Thomas pause.
I was wrong about that!
Throughout the argument, conservative justices — particularly Alito — bemoaned the weaponization of law enforcement and the horror of overzealous criminal prosecutors. It’s a new leaf for a gang who routinely rubberstamps death warrants, but don’t worry… this concern for criminal defendants stops at inconveniencing a Republican president:
The Chief, meanwhile, struck a compromise tone. And by “compromise,” we mean “let’s just give Trump what he wants but in a way that doesn’t put a spotlight on us.”
In other words, if we lay low long enough, Trump will either win and pardon himself or Biden will win and we can quickly fire off an “of course presidents can go to jail, silly” opinion. It’s hard to envision which thorny fact issues the court below needs to untangle after Trump’s lawyer conceded to Justice Barrett that most of the indictment deals with private activity that has no immunity argument at all.
But as they say, “life tenure means never having to say you’re sorry.”
Earlier: SCOTUS Conservatives Show Their Whole Asses In Trump Immunity Argument
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.