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Notes -
Trump v. United States, the presidential immunity opinion, dropped this morning. In broad strokes it goes like this:
1. For those acts that are pursuant to the President's "conclusive and preclusive" authority there is absolute immunity.
2. For those acts which are official acts by the President but not covered by (1) there is a presumption of immunity that can only be overcome by showing the prosecution would pose no "dangers of intrusion on the authority and functions of the Executive Branch."
3. For those acts which are unofficial there is no immunity.
4. Those acts for which the President has immunity cannot be used as evidence to demonstrate any element of a crime for which the President would not have immunity.
I think it's just incredible that the six justices in the majority looked at the Navy-SEALs-assassinate-a-rival hypothetical and went "yep, sounds right, no liability." Roberts' majority opinion even mentions the President's orders to the armed forces as one of the things that falls under (1).
I think the way is clear. Biden orders Trump, the six justices in the majority, and let's say the next 2-3 top Republican candidates whacked (just for safety). He probably gets impeached and removed but can't go to jail (thanks SCOTUS!) Harris takes over as President and I think it's unlikely she would also get impeached. Dems don't want to hand the presidency to Mike Johnson. That gives Harris plenty of time to stack the court. Republican convention in disarray due to the deaths of their prominent candidates. Biden obviously out, he'd be ineligible anyway if impeached and removed. Dems probably dump Harris to create a clean break with Biden admin, clearing the way for Whitmer/Newsom/Pritzker/whoever.
The above is fan fiction, of course.
If we're positing the level of complete totalitarian control such that the military - a good chunk of which will have voted for or otherwise sympathized with the other party - to assassinate political rivals and expect to be obeyed, why would you expect the Justice Department, a much smaller and more politicized branch than the military which also serves at the pleasure of the President, to be able or willing to do anything to stop it?
I don't think anyone expects the DoJ to prevent something like this contemporaneously but now there is not even the possibility of punishment after the fact.
Ah yes, because legitimate prosecutions of totally-real crimes are what an opposing-party DOJ will prosecute and indict a hated former-POTUS for...I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. Also also, the Founders almost certainly didn't intend this because they knew their classical history, and knew that exactly this kind of post-office lawfare was a primary spur to the rise of Caesar and the Principate over the Republic.
That's why it took 200+ years for any president to be criminally indicted. Obviously without absolute criminal immunity presidents and ex-presidents would be awash in criminal prosecutions! That's why it has been such a problem historically!
Right, because people still knew their history enough that the idea of trying that kind of hardball was beyond the pale. It certainly wasn't for lack of things to try and arrest Presidents over.
Yeah. The idea that Trump is somehow unique as opposed to the person with respect to whom the seal was broken seems absurd to me.
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