Faced with the most potent threat to democracy in more than a century, our most revered institution didn't just fail to hold, it aligned itself with the threat
Don't you guys get it? These new powers don't apply to Biden. Or to any other Democratic president for that matter. Roberts made clear that the courts (meaning the Supreme Court) decides if something is an official act or not. It is pretty obvious how they would decide if Biden tried to exercise this new power.
Bingo! That was my first thought too. Think how thoroughly Biden could fuck Trump up between now and November if Biden had the guts to avail himself of his newly minted immunity from prosecution and a team capable of rapid and effective implementation.
Expanding a bit on this: when we think of coups, we think of an event like January 6th. But increasingly the US uses "constitutional coups" to overthrow governments.
Impeachment is a legitimate form of a constitutional coup. The high bar to achieving it has limited its abuse, but we saw in the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the attempted impeachment of Joe Biden the abuse of this extreme power as a means to delegitimize a political figure. Most constitutional coups are uglier, using pretexts to invoke powers that the invoking institutions don't have.
We have witnessed several constitutional coups in the US. The Constitution makes it clear that the conduct of elections is controlled by the states. The Federal government should not be involved unless some clear federal interest, like guaranteeing equal access to the ballot, is involved. When the Supreme Court intervened in Florida in the 2000 election, it conducted a constitutional coup, one that had the effect of using the accumulated power of partisans on the Court to install a president of their own party to perpetuate their partisan power.
I would argue that the appointment of Kenneth Starr was probably a constitutional coup, since a competent Independent Counsel was replaced without any finding of how he had failed. Since Starr's pursuit of Clinton became rather obviously a partisan enterprise, it represented an abuse of power that probably should have led to his replacement (A discussion of some of the conflicts of interest and improprieties can be found here scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1117&context=lcp).
And now we are here, with Republican jurists protecting a Republican candidate for office against trial and against consequences for his crimes. Some countries use the military to seize power. In the US, the enemies of the Republic come from the ranks of those sworn to uphold truth and therefore believed to be above corruption. It is Plato's Republic, in which the Guardians are receiving graft from the Saudis and performance "gratuities" from the ultrawealthy.
In short, the First American Republic hangs by a thread. But we should have seen this coming for at least 30 years, ever since Starr replaced Robert Fiske.
Unrelentingly grim. Unless Biden exercises some of his newly granted powers in a vigorous and energetic way, democracy is fucked.
Don't you guys get it? These new powers don't apply to Biden. Or to any other Democratic president for that matter. Roberts made clear that the courts (meaning the Supreme Court) decides if something is an official act or not. It is pretty obvious how they would decide if Biden tried to exercise this new power.
Bingo! That was my first thought too. Think how thoroughly Biden could fuck Trump up between now and November if Biden had the guts to avail himself of his newly minted immunity from prosecution and a team capable of rapid and effective implementation.
"Folding" implies that the so-called "conservative" justices opposed concentrating all power in the presidency.
I think this has been their plan all along: monarchy or, in the hands of a sociopath, utter national and world destruction.
Expanding a bit on this: when we think of coups, we think of an event like January 6th. But increasingly the US uses "constitutional coups" to overthrow governments.
Impeachment is a legitimate form of a constitutional coup. The high bar to achieving it has limited its abuse, but we saw in the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the attempted impeachment of Joe Biden the abuse of this extreme power as a means to delegitimize a political figure. Most constitutional coups are uglier, using pretexts to invoke powers that the invoking institutions don't have.
We have witnessed several constitutional coups in the US. The Constitution makes it clear that the conduct of elections is controlled by the states. The Federal government should not be involved unless some clear federal interest, like guaranteeing equal access to the ballot, is involved. When the Supreme Court intervened in Florida in the 2000 election, it conducted a constitutional coup, one that had the effect of using the accumulated power of partisans on the Court to install a president of their own party to perpetuate their partisan power.
I would argue that the appointment of Kenneth Starr was probably a constitutional coup, since a competent Independent Counsel was replaced without any finding of how he had failed. Since Starr's pursuit of Clinton became rather obviously a partisan enterprise, it represented an abuse of power that probably should have led to his replacement (A discussion of some of the conflicts of interest and improprieties can be found here scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1117&context=lcp).
And now we are here, with Republican jurists protecting a Republican candidate for office against trial and against consequences for his crimes. Some countries use the military to seize power. In the US, the enemies of the Republic come from the ranks of those sworn to uphold truth and therefore believed to be above corruption. It is Plato's Republic, in which the Guardians are receiving graft from the Saudis and performance "gratuities" from the ultrawealthy.
In short, the First American Republic hangs by a thread. But we should have seen this coming for at least 30 years, ever since Starr replaced Robert Fiske.