Miles, I agree with this in the main but a couple of other posters have already touched on the weakness in this otherwise strong argument - we have a Supreme Court - designated by the Constitution as the final arbiter of what is constitutional, that is making rulings that even a non-lawyer can clearly see are clearly opposite to the meaning and purpose of the constitution. I am referring to presidential immunity.
There is no way to accurately describe the SCOTUS majority as anything but monarchists based on this ruling. But the whole purpose of the constitution was to set up checks and balances intended to prevent the emergence of a monarchic situation.
We are in this situation because, as much as the framers tried to put fail safes in the document, they were insufficient to the malevolence, lack of personal integrity, cowardice, and consolidated financial power of the corporate sector that has bankrolled this, harnessed to the power of digital mass disinformation campaigns using modern psychological warfare techniques.
Michelle H asked below, "Does the immunity given to him by SCOTUS include defying the Constitution? Or just things like indiscriminately murdering innocent fisherman? "
To that I add the question of the Supreme Court defying the Constitution under the pretext of enforcing it. I wish I had the answer. All I know is that this seems like a big fucking problem.
Lyn, I totally agree with you about the Supreme Court? My question was more for educational purposes. Maybe instead of trying to contain a narcissistic megalomaniac who sees everyone as of no consequence. Maybe part of the defiance could focus on dealing with SCOTUS. It’s not much but I mentioned last month that we take a page out of Roe and same sex marriage and protest on the steps of the court when oral arguments are being made or hell, everyday. When, if the Dems get control, it’s time to start impeaching judges.
Frankly, after the Dobbs decision the majority should have been forced to step down by sustained public protest. How dare they tell any woman/girl that she must give birth against her will? There is no more grotesque insult to the human dignity of every female person in this country than that. It is literally slavery - taking from a person the control of their own body by others for their own purposes.
They have no right to make their religious beliefs law, and that's what it's about - religion. This imposition of religion by law is one of the most grotesque violations of the Constitution that we are seeing. They posed it as a "states rights" issue but it isn't - the whole point of a Constitutional right is that it can't be legislated away - it is an essential right, and freedom of religion including the rejection of religion is an essential right.
& be sure there are lots of signs protesting "Kavanaugh Stops" b/c apparently he REALLY hates that (still frat boy mentality)-he put unrelatedly in his uncharacteristic ASSENT w the NG Troops Opinion that he did not mean ICE could use racial profiling. So Public Outcry is starting to trickle down slowly
Exactly right. It's the six Christian Nationalists on the Supreme Court who unconstitutionally gave the President immunity and has made the Felon a king. Nowhere in the Constitution is there Presidential immunity for any actions any President takes and there certainly is no immunity for any President when she/he communicates with DOJ.
I agree 100% with you. I don’t know if it can be done but the government we have now needs a complete overhaul. Hopefully some of the good ones can be retained but the ones complicit in everything must go.
All the rulings the Supreme Court is making would have to apply to a Democratic president as well wouldn’t it. How will Republicans act when the shoe is on the other foot?
I think it's worse than that. The presidential immunity decision literally makes it possible for a president to turn themselves into a dictator for life, committing any crimes to that end with impunity. I don't know if you listened to the oral argument, but Trump's counsel, when faced with the hypothetical of ordering Seal Team to kill a political opponent thought immunity would apply as deploying Seal Team 6 is within a president's core legal powers. Presidential immunity also negates the provision of impeachment, since the same president can presumably order Seal Team 6 to kill any member of Congress who would vote to impeach/convict to remove, under the guise of let's say "national security" also the domain of the president's official powers.
The whole decision is so blazingly corrupt/insane that it is my view that the term "the rule of law" has been rendered a travesty by it.
It is my view that it must be ignored and when we are in the position to do so, Trump must be prosecuted for all his crimes. I don't know how you prosecute the members of the Supreme Court, but that would also be appropriate. This Supreme Court has made a number of execrable decisions, but the presidential immunity thing is in a class by itself. It literally negates the Constitution's purpose.
The Immunity Clause is SUPPOSED to apply only to crimes committed when he is exercising a Function of POTUS-it does not apply to extracurricular crimes-personal enrichment, Jan 6, & classified documents-which Jack Smith can still take him to trial for when he's out of office (that's why Eileen Cannon doesn't want to relinquish control of that case) So there's still hope. But if he doesn't die in office, he'll fly away in his golden plane to UAE/SA/etc to avoid trials here or from IJC (where Jack Smith also trys cases-wouldn't That be great-stick DT in the Hague where no one can bust him out!)The first order of business after Legislative control is wrested away from GOP (besides Impeachment of the Cabinet) is to get rid of the Immunity Clause-Jamie Raskin is already working on LOTS of things. Then the Senate Judiciary has got to start on SCOTUS Reform & Oversite-which it has sorely neglected for the last 40 yrs!
Correction to my last post-apparently the US Military Can invade the Hague per a 2002law-will have to search for correct name-this needs to be repealed ASAP-as DT is now sanctioning individual members of the Court! Just found that out-needs Media Coverage!
Were a Democrat taking these actions, Republicans would be screaming about the "rule of law" and "The Constitution says…". Clearly, the Supreme Court is - in my opinion and that of many - violating the Constitution as well.
I'm angered by the right's reaction to rational people's statements about Venezuela - we do not support Maduro, we are against Trump's actions. Calling it a "police action" is bull, we invaded the country with our military to remove him from the country.
Indeed, Trump's major actions are lost in the "flood the zone" effort, it's almost impossible to pull out primary issues of importance to address when so many are clearly violations of norms or laws.
Booker's statement was strong, but Democrats need to get their act together and unify - this would certainly support "we the people" who are acting in defiance.
Good to have you back, I hope you had a relaxing holiday.
One disagreement: SCOTUS has not held. They’ve made Trump immune from prosecution and slow walked accountability by placing stays on lower court orders (in the shadow docket no less).
Miles, I absolutely agree that the Constitution is our guiding document. But words on a piece of paper have no “teeth or bite “ unless somebody (looking at you Supreme Court, more Democrats than currently trying to take action and all you spineless Republicans) actually moves, takes action, something other than speaking. We can speak until we’re blue in the face, we can hold the Constitution in our hands and wave it around, we can march and shake our fists in the air but the orange man-baby and his minions just keep on doing whatever they want. This is what is so frustrating and frightening. I know lower court judges are ruling against him, but it hasn’t really stemmed the corruption. Me thinks the founding fathers didn’t look at this from all possible angles. Of course back then, a man’s word (vow) meant something. I don’t know this is going to end or evolve but I wouldn’t be shocked if there would be another civil war. Not sure how else this gets resolved.
Yes our Constitution is our way out of this mess, WHICH COULD END TOMORROW, if the Republicans upheld their oath and impeached and removed Trump, JD Vance, etc, but what has clearly been revealed is that our Constitution is fragile and depends on the goodwill of those in the 3 branches. It must be improved thru AMENDMENTS with additional guardrails to prevent this from ever happening again.
Thank you Miles, looking forward to tonight! I was wondering if you have seen Jasmine Crockett's video posted a few days ago? She talks about what Dems are doing on the Supreme Court!
Miles, I agree with this in the main but a couple of other posters have already touched on the weakness in this otherwise strong argument - we have a Supreme Court - designated by the Constitution as the final arbiter of what is constitutional, that is making rulings that even a non-lawyer can clearly see are clearly opposite to the meaning and purpose of the constitution. I am referring to presidential immunity.
There is no way to accurately describe the SCOTUS majority as anything but monarchists based on this ruling. But the whole purpose of the constitution was to set up checks and balances intended to prevent the emergence of a monarchic situation.
We are in this situation because, as much as the framers tried to put fail safes in the document, they were insufficient to the malevolence, lack of personal integrity, cowardice, and consolidated financial power of the corporate sector that has bankrolled this, harnessed to the power of digital mass disinformation campaigns using modern psychological warfare techniques.
Michelle H asked below, "Does the immunity given to him by SCOTUS include defying the Constitution? Or just things like indiscriminately murdering innocent fisherman? "
To that I add the question of the Supreme Court defying the Constitution under the pretext of enforcing it. I wish I had the answer. All I know is that this seems like a big fucking problem.
Lyn, I totally agree with you about the Supreme Court? My question was more for educational purposes. Maybe instead of trying to contain a narcissistic megalomaniac who sees everyone as of no consequence. Maybe part of the defiance could focus on dealing with SCOTUS. It’s not much but I mentioned last month that we take a page out of Roe and same sex marriage and protest on the steps of the court when oral arguments are being made or hell, everyday. When, if the Dems get control, it’s time to start impeaching judges.
Frankly, after the Dobbs decision the majority should have been forced to step down by sustained public protest. How dare they tell any woman/girl that she must give birth against her will? There is no more grotesque insult to the human dignity of every female person in this country than that. It is literally slavery - taking from a person the control of their own body by others for their own purposes.
They have no right to make their religious beliefs law, and that's what it's about - religion. This imposition of religion by law is one of the most grotesque violations of the Constitution that we are seeing. They posed it as a "states rights" issue but it isn't - the whole point of a Constitutional right is that it can't be legislated away - it is an essential right, and freedom of religion including the rejection of religion is an essential right.
SO Well Said!!! Thank you for posting this. This is how I feel also. you've articulated this perfectly.
& be sure there are lots of signs protesting "Kavanaugh Stops" b/c apparently he REALLY hates that (still frat boy mentality)-he put unrelatedly in his uncharacteristic ASSENT w the NG Troops Opinion that he did not mean ICE could use racial profiling. So Public Outcry is starting to trickle down slowly
Republicans have selective memory
Exactly right. It's the six Christian Nationalists on the Supreme Court who unconstitutionally gave the President immunity and has made the Felon a king. Nowhere in the Constitution is there Presidential immunity for any actions any President takes and there certainly is no immunity for any President when she/he communicates with DOJ.
I agree 100% with you. I don’t know if it can be done but the government we have now needs a complete overhaul. Hopefully some of the good ones can be retained but the ones complicit in everything must go.
All the rulings the Supreme Court is making would have to apply to a Democratic president as well wouldn’t it. How will Republicans act when the shoe is on the other foot?
I think it's worse than that. The presidential immunity decision literally makes it possible for a president to turn themselves into a dictator for life, committing any crimes to that end with impunity. I don't know if you listened to the oral argument, but Trump's counsel, when faced with the hypothetical of ordering Seal Team to kill a political opponent thought immunity would apply as deploying Seal Team 6 is within a president's core legal powers. Presidential immunity also negates the provision of impeachment, since the same president can presumably order Seal Team 6 to kill any member of Congress who would vote to impeach/convict to remove, under the guise of let's say "national security" also the domain of the president's official powers.
The whole decision is so blazingly corrupt/insane that it is my view that the term "the rule of law" has been rendered a travesty by it.
It is my view that it must be ignored and when we are in the position to do so, Trump must be prosecuted for all his crimes. I don't know how you prosecute the members of the Supreme Court, but that would also be appropriate. This Supreme Court has made a number of execrable decisions, but the presidential immunity thing is in a class by itself. It literally negates the Constitution's purpose.
The Immunity Clause is SUPPOSED to apply only to crimes committed when he is exercising a Function of POTUS-it does not apply to extracurricular crimes-personal enrichment, Jan 6, & classified documents-which Jack Smith can still take him to trial for when he's out of office (that's why Eileen Cannon doesn't want to relinquish control of that case) So there's still hope. But if he doesn't die in office, he'll fly away in his golden plane to UAE/SA/etc to avoid trials here or from IJC (where Jack Smith also trys cases-wouldn't That be great-stick DT in the Hague where no one can bust him out!)The first order of business after Legislative control is wrested away from GOP (besides Impeachment of the Cabinet) is to get rid of the Immunity Clause-Jamie Raskin is already working on LOTS of things. Then the Senate Judiciary has got to start on SCOTUS Reform & Oversite-which it has sorely neglected for the last 40 yrs!
Correction to my last post-apparently the US Military Can invade the Hague per a 2002law-will have to search for correct name-this needs to be repealed ASAP-as DT is now sanctioning individual members of the Court! Just found that out-needs Media Coverage!
Plus I know Judge Luttig is working w many former Judges to hammer out reforms, & other things to fill in loopholes in a lot of laws
It’s good to have you back. I like the sound of this new direction.
Does the immunity given to him by SCOTUS include defying the Constitution? Or just things like indiscriminately murdering innocent fisherman?
So fucking true! Thank you Miles for all you are doing to keep people aware of the terrible things this despicable regime is destroying!
Were a Democrat taking these actions, Republicans would be screaming about the "rule of law" and "The Constitution says…". Clearly, the Supreme Court is - in my opinion and that of many - violating the Constitution as well.
I'm angered by the right's reaction to rational people's statements about Venezuela - we do not support Maduro, we are against Trump's actions. Calling it a "police action" is bull, we invaded the country with our military to remove him from the country.
Indeed, Trump's major actions are lost in the "flood the zone" effort, it's almost impossible to pull out primary issues of importance to address when so many are clearly violations of norms or laws.
Booker's statement was strong, but Democrats need to get their act together and unify - this would certainly support "we the people" who are acting in defiance.
Good to have you back, I hope you had a relaxing holiday.
One disagreement: SCOTUS has not held. They’ve made Trump immune from prosecution and slow walked accountability by placing stays on lower court orders (in the shadow docket no less).
Yes focus on Constitution. yet not just the constitution but the Declaration of Independence too.
Heather Cox Richardson speaks eloquently and often of it’s meaning and role on the founding of the country and by Lincoln.
So glad you are back!! Let’s get going on some new ideas to take back our country!
Miles, I absolutely agree that the Constitution is our guiding document. But words on a piece of paper have no “teeth or bite “ unless somebody (looking at you Supreme Court, more Democrats than currently trying to take action and all you spineless Republicans) actually moves, takes action, something other than speaking. We can speak until we’re blue in the face, we can hold the Constitution in our hands and wave it around, we can march and shake our fists in the air but the orange man-baby and his minions just keep on doing whatever they want. This is what is so frustrating and frightening. I know lower court judges are ruling against him, but it hasn’t really stemmed the corruption. Me thinks the founding fathers didn’t look at this from all possible angles. Of course back then, a man’s word (vow) meant something. I don’t know this is going to end or evolve but I wouldn’t be shocked if there would be another civil war. Not sure how else this gets resolved.
Excellent analysis Miles!
"....proud ignorance..." is a perfect explanation of Trump. Thanks Miles.
Constitution vs Con
Trump is aiming for a full bingo card on constitutional violations.
I wonder how "I WANT SOME RESPECT" Roberts feels about his immunity stupidity now.
Welcome back!❤️
Yes our Constitution is our way out of this mess, WHICH COULD END TOMORROW, if the Republicans upheld their oath and impeached and removed Trump, JD Vance, etc, but what has clearly been revealed is that our Constitution is fragile and depends on the goodwill of those in the 3 branches. It must be improved thru AMENDMENTS with additional guardrails to prevent this from ever happening again.
“ What voters cannot do is authorize a president to break the law”
True, but SCOTUS immunity decision does in many instances. Trump is taking it to the nth degree.
Perhaps an action is to push for legislation restricting such immunity. Won’t become law near term; important message worth fighting for.
Should become law when team pro democracy is n majority.
Thank you Miles, looking forward to tonight! I was wondering if you have seen Jasmine Crockett's video posted a few days ago? She talks about what Dems are doing on the Supreme Court!