Hobbes_Dent ,

The devolution will not be televised.

TokenBoomer OP ,

Very true, very real.

just_another_person ,

This is oversimplifying it. They did not define "official acts", obviously, but goose and gander. Biden is now available to use these new powers, and should.

snooggums ,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

If Biden does the exact same thing as the orange turd, the packed courts will rule that Biden's actions were not official but the angry orange's were.

The decision is entirely a power grab that will be abused by conservatives and not by anyone with morals. That is what these fascists are counting on.

just_another_person ,

Depends entirely on what is done in the next 6 months...

snooggums ,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

Biden won't abuse this power because he isn't a complete trash person and SCOTUS knows it. They know that the only party that will abuse this power is the Republican party.

So until this trash opinion is undone, every single election is an imminent threat to democracy.

just_another_person ,

Yes, exactly.

logicbomb ,

They should be terrified of what Trump would do to them with this power, though. History has shown time and time again that, just because Trump likes you today, that doesn't mean he won't fire you tomorrow. Or in this case, should I say "fire" you tomorrow.

Zaktor ,

Leopards won't eat their faces. Or if it seems like they will, they'll just do what he wants. They may have tried to maintain appearances of doing law, just conservatively, during his presidency, but since then they've abandoned it and are just a kangaroo court. You don't declare the president a king and precedent optional while still maintaining some pretense of justice. They think they've won and now is the time to put their plans into motion.

Wrench ,

Biden could unpack those courts as an official act and pack it with his own judges, who would rule on the outcome.

This is obviously what Trump would do in the same position. But it's highly doubtful that Biden will.

It would set an insanely dangerous precedent. But if he doesn't, Republicans will the next time they hold the presidency.

Zaktor ,

They don't even need to. The same court that made this decision will say everything he does is official and (now) very legal. Some old conservatives will retire to be replaced by Eileen Cannon (she gets both of their seats), and the court just needs to sit back and endorse the fascism. They've already done the daring act, now everything else is procedure.

BertramDitore ,
@BertramDitore@lemmy.world avatar

In her dissent, Sotomayor made it pretty clear that that doesn’t matter.

"When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority's reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution," Sotomayor wrote. "Orders the Navy's SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Immune, immune, immune."

"In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law," the justice added.

just_another_person ,

The dissent is not the prevailing ruling though. The other MAGA dip shits on the court just left the door open to anything for the next 6 months. All horrific derivatives of this timeline, sure. But they can't stop the current administration apparently from doing the same shit without immunity until the next ruling. They're just banking on the fact that Biden isn't a gigantic piece of shit and will never pull the trigger on using any of these options.

I guarantee his team is sitting in a room right now coming up with ideas.

BertramDitore ,
@BertramDitore@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah I hear you, but that door they left open is exactly why it doesn’t matter. By not defining official acts, they essentially gave themselves the authority to make that determination later, which means anything done as president can be considered official, as long as they say so. This was another power grab for them and any republicans who want to use it, but you can be sure the rules would be different for democrats.

just_another_person ,

Not until October, and they won't have enough time to do anything to fast track a damn thing depending on what happens. If it happens bettnow and then, it happens.

fiercekitten ,

That’s why the conservative SC justices would have to be declared enemy combatants, terrorists, or an emergency threat and be locked up. Now they cannot rule against the president. Or rush to pack the SC with friendly justices after removing the conservative ones, and lock up any members of congress who won’t approve the judges.

logicbomb ,

If Biden were to use his powers to force the 6 conservative Supreme Court Justices out, then there wouldn't be anybody on the court who would disagree with the minority interpretation.

raspberriesareyummy ,

This here. As a European I am extremely worried about what is coming in US politics. I really really hope Biden will make use of this with foolproof consequences.

fiercekitten ,

He won’t. America is fucked. This corruption will have an effect on the entire world.

p5yk0t1km1r4ge ,
@p5yk0t1km1r4ge@lemmy.world avatar

I guarantee his team is sitting in a room right now coming up with ideas.

No, they aren't. Their plan is to yell really loudly about how unacceptable the ruling is. That's it.

bradinutah ,

Biden for King 2024! Vote blue! Brought to you by conservative Chief Justice Roberts.

just_another_person ,

They'll never do it, but they left that door open in some sense.

cannibalkitteh ,

So, open season for Biden to get some Supreme Court justices an "early retirement" then?

bradinutah ,

Be sure that everyone knows it's official and then sleep easy.

crusa187 ,

Yes, but in classic dem fashion he’ll do absolutely nothing with this new power, and also do nothing to stop its use. Then will continue running a dogshit campaign to get trump re-elected come November. We are well and truly fucked.

ChonkyOwlbear ,

Is it wrong to wish that Biden would immediately drone strike the justices that are in the majority for this decision?

Wrench ,

Trump and his MAGA cult are a clear and present danger to our democracy and its citizens.

The SCOTUS is majority controlled by corrupt federalists openly colluding with lower courts and federalist donors to bypass our elected lawmakers (congress/senate/potus) to effectively unilaterally write policy. This is a clear and present danger to our democracy.

Biden has justification to clean house under official pretext.

DoctorButts ,

As long as those drone strikes are officially official, then sure, he has immunity.

Zaktor ,

Morally, maybe? Legally, no. It's very explicitly ok.

ZetaLightning94 ,

Sooo strip trump of his citizenship, and remove the Supreme court members that are in his pocket, reestablish new judges via voting. Create new ammendment that the president can and will be held accountable for breaking the law

p5yk0t1km1r4ge ,
@p5yk0t1km1r4ge@lemmy.world avatar

Replace SCOTUS with an equal amount of democrats and Republicans.

queue ,
@queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Cool, Biden should use those new get out of jail free cards to do a lot of shit to improve the lives of Americans and probibit Project 2025.

The party about of rule of law just got told it's rule of law to just do whatever as president, so go nuts. Pack the court. Forcibly remove the supreme Court. Ignore it.

Hell the constitution never even said the Court has the right to interpret and block laws, that was due to the Court expanding its own power. We just went with it because Jefferson had his own Xanatos Gambit played on him.

Come on Biden do something really cool with this, make them regret it.

Icalasari ,

Have the GoP and the traitors on the supreme court taste the death penalty. Then repeal all this crap they put in place (no way to override the GoP all being dead after the fact. I'd go with banishment or any other number of things if it was guaranteed to work, but the only thing that can't potentially be lifted after the fact is death)

Anti_Face_Weapon ,

Murder and political persecution are the weapon of the enemy. We do not need it, we will not use it.

Jaysyn ,
@Jaysyn@kbin.earth avatar

Self-defense isn't murder.

agent_nycto ,

Bullshit. Go John Brown on them. The oppressed have not gotten freedoms just by asking nicely.

queue ,
@queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Oh man lemme just persuade the fascists that I shouldn't be killed. Lemme just vote out my neighbors and corrupt cops. Free market place of ideas, where the owners of the marketplace decide what's neutral, what's amoral, and what's being sold.

Anti_Face_Weapon ,

There is a vast ocean of difference between fighting fascist and murdering innocent's. Op proposed the murder of innocents.

Phenomephrene ,
@Phenomephrene@thebrainbin.org avatar

I was genuinely not expecting this. As little reason as this Supreme Court has given to inspire confidence, I thought this was a bridge too. I feel sick to my stomach.

snooggums ,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

"We can go lower."

-SCOTUS

thesohoriots ,

and how

bradinutah ,

It's absolutely sickening. The fact they took up the case to begin with was sickening. We need Biden to take hold of this decision and make some official acts that can restore democracy. Biden can be the first president since Washington to do what Washington did, heal our nation and then surrender power back to We the People. Dead King Geoge III is laughing at us and the blood of the American Revolution groans in disgust at these Injustices!

Makeitstop ,

I had felt the same way, until they ruled that partisan gerrymandering is constitutionally protected, that racial gerrymandering can only be unconstitutional if it doesn't provide a partisan advantage to one side, and that the court must assume that legislators are acting in good faith because their need to not be embarrassed outweighs the constitutional rights of the people and the need for honest elections. I read that decision and said "shit, they're gonna rule that Trump's immune."

I never thought the Court would put out a decision that could rival Dred Scott for worst in history, but these asshole's have put out multiple contenders for that title in a single term.

homesweethomeMrL ,

You’d still have to beat Citizens United.

Plus it’s kinda John Roberts’ whole jam, taking away voting rights

slickgoat ,

Unfortunately they strongly signalled this move in the oral questioning bit. It was pretty much expected. Now bonking a porn star will become classed as an official act.

Mjpasta710 ,

The act the con man committed was before being elected. That one will be a poo stain on him for much longer.

slurpinderpin ,

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

We're setting up for an extremely dark period in American history. Buckle up fuckleheads

baronvonj ,
@baronvonj@lemmy.world avatar

The ruling actually said the president "is entitled to at least *presumptive * immunity from prosecution for all his official acts." Absolute immunity was reserved for "conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority." I'm not defending this ruling, but we don't need to misquote it.

someguy3 ,

In other news, everything GOP presidents do is official and everything DEM presidents do is private.

Hegar ,

It's important to remember that Republicans are committed to ending democracy because the majority of people do not support their brutal white supremacist vision for the country.

If they had majority support they wouldn't be illegally seizing and destroying the institutions of governance.

sunbrrnslapper ,
@sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world avatar

In years past, your comment might sound like hyperbole. But not so these days: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/the-wa-gop-put-it-in-writing-that-theyre-not-into-democracy/

Makeitstop ,

This decision so blatantly ignores the constitution, history, tradition, case law, and all available evidence, that I have to question why they even bothered writing such a long decision. They might as well have just said "Fuck it, we say Trump is immune. Eat shit America, we can do whatever we want."

Seraph ,
@Seraph@fedia.io avatar

Has anyone read the fine print? Are there any limits to this? Why can't Biden just eliminate Trump and claim immunity?

Just like Trump will once elected...

Kidplayer_666 ,

Isn’t that written in the constitution clearly? Isn’t that what Impeachment for, the only way to prosecute a president over his acts during the presidency?

TokenBoomer OP ,

He was impeached but not convicted for this insurrection act. This case is to determine if, now that he is a civilian again, he can be held accountable for the insurrection.

billiam0202 ,

Impeachment is a process for determining wrongdoing, which isn't the same as determining legal guilt.

Or to phrase it differently: there are things you could do that would get you fired from your job, but aren't illegal.

Zaktor ,

Previously, by Justice Department custom, the president was immune from prosecution while in office. That was just an internal stance and didn't make him immune from prosecution indefinitely, just that you can't arrest the president in the Oval Office. It could be seen as a pragmatic stance that we shouldn't tie the president up in court battles while he's supposed to be doing the job of presidenting or that he'd just obviously order his Justice Department not to arrest him so don't try to do irrelevant things.

Now he's immune forever, even after he's no longer in control of the people who would be prosecuting him and he has no critical role to play in society. And it's officially declared by the Supreme Court, not just custom.

Clinicallydepressedpoochie ,

Nope. Impeachment is part of a process to remove a president. Conviction in the senate only results in the president being removed. Crimes are prosecuted in a court of law. Not by a political process.

thesporkeffect ,

Even discussing this ruling is pointless, because words no longer have legal meaning. Even if he was so inclined, Biden wouldn't be allowed to take advantage of this concept of immunity. We're just making up whatever shit we want and calling it Law.

TokenBoomer OP ,

Pretty much. The reality that this is has always been the case is finally smacking everyone upside the head. If there is no consistent application of the law, laws become meaningless. Might then makes right, and bedlam follows. America has been on a dangerous path for decades, this ruling is the the turn. Conservatives are displaying that they want Trump as dictator, and will do everything in their power to make that happen.

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