The Supreme Court just legalized Presidential crime
Fighting back is more important than ever.
The Supreme Court just essentially legalized crime, as long as the President of the United States is the one doing it. This morning the six conservative justices released their decision stating that Trump, or any President, has "absolute immunity" from criminal prosecution for all "official acts" he took while in office. In Judge Sotomayor's dissent she explicitly says that as a result of this ruling "the president is now a king above the law."
This case was about Donald Trump, and although the precedent applies to all Presidents we know that the immediate implications are Trump being able to get away with doing whatever he wants if he’s in office. Technically, executive orders and other decisions of his could be halted or overturned by the courts, but this Supreme Court, and his appointees on it, are making it very, very clear where they stand on this issue of Presidential power, and his power specifically. The conservative justices just ruled not only that a president is immune with respect to his official acts, but also that evidence related to those official acts cannot come into any trial.
This ruling is, in itself, a horrific blow to any semblance of democracy in the United States, and unfortunately it comes in the context of the court also seizing more power for itself, enabling more corporate power, and legalizing political bribery all within the last week. Sotamayor’s dissent goes on to reveal just how monumental and destructive this latest ruling is, “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
As a whole lot of observers have half-jokingly pointed out in the last couple hours, this means Biden could do whatever he wants, to Trump or the Supreme Court or apparently just about anyone. And yet these comments bring us directly to a significant part of the problem here, which is that the party that has messaged itself as the bulwark, the only barrier against fascism has been and remains essentially unwilling to take drastic action to curb the far-right tide in this country. For one, the party hasn’t backed a packing of the court or any other action to meaningfully disarm the judicial body full of extremist judges. This one example is paired with a broader consensus among Democratic leadership to not violate the norms that have governed the country, norms which Republicans have been more than willing to break or circumvent at every opportunity.
Now, if Trump wins, he will have the ability to do whatever he wants without fear of repercussion. To be fair he has already acted largely in that manner, and despite the theoretical provisions of the legal system he has avoided real consequences quite adeptly – even 34 felony counts are unlikely to land him in prison. Because even before today the law of the land was always applied unevenly, despite talk to the contrary, and Presidents have never faced real consequences for their actions, whether they be war crimes or the criminal conspiracy for which Richard Nixon was ultimately pardoned.
In the long term we need the people power to shut down this fascist surge. Not to beat a dead horse but we need to organize to the degree that we can defeat the far-right. We need to build that power without waiting for anyone to come save us. But that takes time, dedication, countless hours of talking to coworkers and neighbors and creating the organization necessary to mobilize ourselves en masse, and ultimately to make ourselves into a force to be reckoned with.
So in the short term we have to be real about the Democratic Party and Joe Biden. He is not fit to run against Trump, and he is not fit to be President. I do not expect anyone in the party to be a radical leader and meaningfully lead the charge against fascism – again we the people must do that. But I do think that staving off Trump rule is more important than ever, more important now than it was 24 hours ago when the law of the land wasn’t that the President can break any law and get away with it. And to stave off Trump we need another, stronger candidate. We need someone who can mobilize voters, who can turn people out by giving them some degree of confidence that they’re fit to do the job. We need the barest of minimums.
If Biden, his inner circle, and the Democratic Party refuse to cede to that most basic of demands, the ushering in of fascism will be on their hands in multiple ways. And yet, at the same time, we should not be holding our breath in any way; again no one is coming to save us. Every day that becomes clearer, and despite the painful way that so many people are arriving at this realization, the clarity it provides can be freeing. Our efforts should go towards organizing a working class so powerful that it cannot be stopped, so strong that capitalists and their attendant fascists can’t stand in the way of our economic and political power. This work is urgent, and at the same time it must be thoughtful and thorough. After all, we have a world to win. We have a world of real democracy, autonomy, and human flourishing to build and win, and there is no path to that world that does not involve the defeat of the forces of fascism and capitalism.
Terrifying yet inspiring simultaneously!