The President Can Now Assassinate You, Officially

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/trump-immunity-supreme-court/

37 comments

  1. VP can also refuse to certify your electoral count. There’s no consequence for anything they do in office. So refusal to leave means de facto dictatorship.

  2. He’ll be after Biden, Harris, Mayorkas, Whitmer, Buttigieg, Newsom, etc too first thing if Trump gets re-elected: he’s got the green light to prosecute and do worse to his political enemies in office right now, watch, via the SCOTUS. 

    If you don’t want that, then Nov is the only time to stop that and vote against Trump. 

  4. Biden should act on an official basis based on national security and arrest his political opponents.

    Let the court system work it’s way slowly and methodically to prove that what Biden did was or was not an act covered by presidential immunity.

    There are some corrupt judges that have been in the news lately and he could start there.

  7. Kind of wish Biden or Harris had the balls to actually use this ruling to…I don’t know, imprison the corrupt 6 justices on the court? Why not put them under indefinite house arrest? Just send the FBI to their houses. Why not? You have license to do any vaguely illegal thing, nobody is going to stop you. Who’s going to try prosecuting someone who is even “partially immune”? It’s already hard enough charging the president with anything.

    I wish. Genuinely, I do, but I do not see these justices facing any justice for their “originalist” BS.

    Biden could literally go onto national TV right now and say these six justices are “believed” to be bought and paid for by China and he is putting them in prison indefinitely until evidence can be gathered. What’s to stop him now?

  8. I was reading that article thinking “damn, this is well written”.

    Then I saw it’s by Elie Mystal. Yup. Checks out. He’s a great writer and truly knows his stuff.

    In any case…yeah, were fucked.

  9. >Legally, there are two critical things to understand about the totality of the court’s ruling here:

    >* The immunity is absolute
    * There is no legislative way to get rid of what the court has given

    On the “immunity is aboslute” side of things:

    >On the first point, the immunity granted to Trump in this case far exceeds the immunity granted to, say, police officers or other government officials, when they act in their official capacities. Those officials are granted “qualified” immunity from civil penalties. Because the immunity is “qualified” it can be taken away (“pierced” is the legal jargon for taking away an official’s qualified immunity). People can bring evidence against officials and argue that they shouldn’t be given immunity because of the gravity or depravity of their acts.

    >Not so with Trump. Presidents are now entitled to “absolute” immunity, which means that no matter what they do, the immunity cannot be lost. They are always and forever immune, no matter what evidence is brought to bear.

    >Moreover, unlike other officials, presidents are now entitled to absolute immunity from *criminal* charges. Even a cop can be charged with, say, *murder*, even if they argue that killing people is part of their jobs. But not presidents. Presidents can murder, rape, steal, and pretty much do whatever they want, so long as they argue that murdering, raping, and stealing is part of the official job of the president of the United States. There is no crime that pierces the veil of absolute immunity.

    On the “no legislative way to get rid of” it side of things:

    >And there is essentially nothing we can do to change it. The courts created qualified immunity for public officials, but it can be undone by state or federal legislatures if they pass a law removing that protection. Not so with absolute presidential immunity. The court here says that absolute immunity is required by the separation of powers inherent in the Constitution, meaning that Congress cannot take it away. Congress, according to the Supreme Court, does not have the power to pass legislation saying “the president can be prosecuted for crimes.” Impeachment, and only impeachment, is the only way to punish presidents, and, somewhat obviously, impeachment does *nothing* to a president who is already no longer in office.

    To put it simply:

    >Under this new standard, a president can go on a four-to-eight year crime spree, steal all the money, and murder all the people they can get their hands on, all under guise of presumptive “official” behavior, and then retire from public life, never to be held accountable for their crimes while in office. That, according to the court, is what the Constitution requires.

  10. Republicans will ignore this forever, but this was the end of free speech.

    The idea that an elected official can now have you killed for any reason, any reason, means that we no longer have freedom of speech.

  11. Biden should assassinate part of the Supreme Court and put new justices in their place

  12. Nothing like the supreme court deciding on the monday before july 4th that the president is a king and has zero responsibility to follow any law as long as he thinks its relevant to the job.

  13. Maybe that’s a thing Biden should consider for the security of the nation.

    Also, we now have precedent that POTUS is above and separate from everyone else as laws just don’t apply to them. Like a King. We told our last King to go F himself in glorious ways, perhaps Trump should remember that when he’s fantasizing.

  14. On one hand, Trump is probably going to rape all of your children while he watches you be boiled alive in acid baths.

    On the other hand, Biden is old.

  15. So, does the President need to actually do the actual killing, or would it be legal for said President to simply order the hit? Will the hitman be covered by the immunity? I suppose it’s slightly better if only the President is immune and has to do their own killing. That said, this decision is absolutely f’d.

  16. Now more is riding on November. If Trump wins, this decision gives him the green light to push the power of the Presidency as far as he wants. And the only way the Supreme Court can get fixed in the near future is if Dems win the next couple elections. IMO, the ball is now in Biden’s hands – he needs to decide whether he is up for doing WHATEVER IT TAKES to win in November or he isn’t and thus needs to step down. Either way, Dems have to find a way to win this election or this country is screwed beyond repair for years!

  17. This is what Roger Stone meant when he said Trump has judges in his pocket ready to help him

  18. The supreme court is clearly drunk with power. They are acting like unelected dictators and don’t care who knows it.

  20. >The President Can Now Assassinate You, Officially*

    * Void where prohibited by majority SCOTUS on a case by case basis on what is considered “official.” Some restrictions may apply, such as party affiliation of the President. See ruling for details.

  21. I think the current President should test this.

  22. Conservatives jerking each other off being like “ooooh yeah give the government more unchecked power, daddies” are an absolute fucking embarrassment and straight up traitors. They’re celebrating because it’s good for Trump personally despite the fact that it’s bad for America as a whole.

  23. People on the left need to embrace their second amendment rights. There’s no longer restrictions on executive power, police have no responsibility to protect you; you are on your own.

  24. Biden and the dems need to go absolutely crazy with this law now, just to prove how fucking mad it is.

    They should go mental and just say, yes I’m immune. Talk to scotus.

  25. Well, so be it. President Biden should do that immediately removing the biggest threat to this country.

  26. I find it funny that the SCOTUS seems to make all of their most popular, clearly not-paid-for rulings right at the end of the session before hiding. /s

    Almost like they knew they should duck out of town! (Not /s)

  27. No, not officially, but a president who abuses power could lie and pretend that it’s official. This Supreme Court and Presidency crisis is incumbent on Congress to fix through impeachment, legislation, and oversight to the structure of our courts, which the legislature fundamentally organizes.

    And it’s incumbent on we, the people, to find common ground and participate in the election to choose legislators who will better represent our civil rights and liberties and keep the Union strong.

  28. Biden knows what he must do now. Dark Brandon to the extreme.

  30. Is this ruling seriously saying that if a handful of supreme court justices and a presidential candidate were a danger to democracy, according to Biden, he could freely remove them of their lives?

  32. The American experiment with democracy has failed. America is a failed nation driven head-first into fascism by Republicans and their extremist right wing Supreme Court majority.

  33. If Biden was smart he would use this to assassinate trump before the election lol

  34. So impeachments exist for nothing, the first amendment is toast, and checks and balances are out the window.

    What the fuck.

  35. So, what I don’t get is where is the outrage from the right?

    After all… if Biden is truly as bad as they say, and head of “the Biden family crime syndicate” you would THINK the SCOTUS giving such a dangerous and bad man that much power would be concerning to the GOP

    But guess what? They’re calling this a win. Why? Because they’re always lying, if they truly believed what they say, at least they would be consistent.

  36. Biden needs to do some stuff now. He’s president and can do anything he wants. I say clean up the Supreme Court first.

  37. Vote folks. We need a super majority in both houses and the presidency to stack the court and fix this mess. Tell people you know in swing states to vote blue up and down the ticket. Encourage them to spread the word to all their friends in those states.

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