As the case enters a new phase, experts remain skeptical that former President Donald Trump's 11th-hour effort to overturn his conviction will be successful.
There has to be a limit to the corruption and duplicity of this facsimile of a Supreme Court, and I would have to think that it’s somewhere short of ruling that efforts to cover up the misappropriation of campaign funds and filing of fraudulent financial reports count as “official acts” of a president.
But then again, they are painfully obviously grotesquely corrupt and duplicitous…
Some of the checks he signed were signed at the WH. And if I recall correctly, he signed them with a bunch of other stuff. What this means is that him signing the checks was part of an “official act”, even if signing those specific checks wasn’t. Which means based on the SC ruling, he can’t even be questioned about signing those checks, nor can he have the fact that he signed them used against him even though they weren’t part of his official duties. Take out him signing the checks at the WH and you lose a good chunk of the crime he was committed for, which will likely be used as the basis for throwing the case out.
I don’t like Trump as much as the next guy, but this ruling does effectively make him a king that cannot be prosecuted. Every single one of his cases is going to go away as a result of this ruling:
The NY case, as I said above, will likely be thrown out because some of the crime was committed while in the WH.
The GA case, Fani Willis’ conduct not withstanding, will likely be thrown out on the basis that Trump calling the GA SoS was an “official act”. The contents of the call, criminal as it is, will likely be deemed untouchable since it happened while he was committing an official act.
The Florida case was never going to go to trial anyway because of Cannon’s continuing interference, but I suspect that she’ll just follow the step-by-step blueprint that Clarence Thomas gave her to just have the whole thing dismissed. And I expect the DC case to be dismissed by the supreme court once they rule that special counsels are invalid.
The GA case, Fani Willis’ conduct not withstanding, will likely be thrown out on the basis that Trump calling the GA SoS was an “official act”. The contents of the call, criminal as it is, will likely be deemed untouchable since it happened while he was committing an official act.
No, what I expect to see is the judge ruling that re-election is not (and in line with previous case law, never has been) one of the core or official duties of the President and therefore any acts he undertook in the furtherance of that aren’t immune from prosecution.
And that’s when Roberts will overthrow it, because they can’t have their newly minted king missing his tee time rotting in a Georgia prison.
You could well be right, but I have a hard time believing that any court - even this grotesquely corrupt one - would attempt such rulings.
So far, while obviously a significant threat, their immunity rulings have actually been broadly in line with established precedent. And they specifically stated that the precise definition of an “official act” was something that was going to have to be worked out in future rulings.
Even with as cynical as I am, I find it hard to believe that they actually intend to rule that anything that might be done in the midst of carrying out some entirely and completely unrelated official act is afforded the same protection as that official act. That would rather obviously make it so that the president could, for instance, pause in the middle of signing a bill and do literally anything - absolutely anything at all - and be entirely immune from any and all consequences.
Yes - it is possible that they’ll rule that way, but again, even as cynical as I am, I can’t imagine that they actually will, if for no other reason than that that would empower the president to order the summary execution of all Supreme Court justices.
You could well be right, but I have a hard time believing that any court - even this grotesquely corrupt one - would attempt such rulings.
gestures broadly
Have you been paying attention lately?
So far, while obviously a significant threat, their immunity rulings have actually been broadly in line with established precedent. And they specifically stated that the precise definition of an “official act” was something that was going to have to be worked out in future rulings.
Here’s the problem. Attempting to prosecute someone based on that logic borders on entrapment. Based on the way the ruling is worded, Trump could call Seal Team 6 tomorrow and "tell them to take out <insert legitimate threat here>. Oh, and by the way, take out Dolly Parton on the way there. " , and nobody could do anything about it. Since he was in the midst of carrying out an official duty, he can’t even be asked about the contents of the phone call, let alone if he ordered them to take out Dolly Parton. " Sure, the Supreme Court may very well rule that it was not an official act…years from now, after it’s made its way through the rest of the court system. But you can’t go back and charge someone with a crime for committing an act that was perfectly legal when it was committed. And right now, based on the wording of the Supreme Court ruling, the President would be absolutely immune from even being investigated for it, let alone prosecuted – until they say otherwise. Which would be fine for whoever is #2 on Trump’s hit list, but it would still suck to be Dolly Parton.
Even with as cynical as I am, I find it hard to believe that they actually intend to rule that anything that might be done in the midst of carrying out some entirely and completely unrelated official act is afforded the same protection as that official act. That would rather obviously make it so that the president could, for instance, pause in the middle of signing a bill and do literally anything - absolutely anything at all - and be entirely immune from any and all consequences.
Yes - it is possible that they’ll rule that way, but again, even as cynical as I am, I can’t imagine that they actually will, if for no other reason than that that would empower the president to order the summary execution of all Supreme Court justices.
That’s pretty much exactly what they said would happen. They spelled it out in great detail. If the President is engaging in an official act, he cannot be investigated for it, and the act and anything related to it cannot be used as evidence against him, even if it’s evidence of an unrelated crime. Which means yes, right now he can literally pause in the middle of signing a bill, order the military to nuke Wisconsin because he hates cheese, finish signing the bill, and nobody can touch him.
I’d sure as hell hope not.
There has to be a limit to the corruption and duplicity of this facsimile of a Supreme Court, and I would have to think that it’s somewhere short of ruling that efforts to cover up the misappropriation of campaign funds and filing of fraudulent financial reports count as “official acts” of a president.
But then again, they are painfully obviously grotesquely corrupt and duplicitous…
Actually, it’s much more simplistic than that.
Some of the checks he signed were signed at the WH. And if I recall correctly, he signed them with a bunch of other stuff. What this means is that him signing the checks was part of an “official act”, even if signing those specific checks wasn’t. Which means based on the SC ruling, he can’t even be questioned about signing those checks, nor can he have the fact that he signed them used against him even though they weren’t part of his official duties. Take out him signing the checks at the WH and you lose a good chunk of the crime he was committed for, which will likely be used as the basis for throwing the case out.
I don’t like Trump as much as the next guy, but this ruling does effectively make him a king that cannot be prosecuted. Every single one of his cases is going to go away as a result of this ruling:
No, what I expect to see is the judge ruling that re-election is not (and in line with previous case law, never has been) one of the core or official duties of the President and therefore any acts he undertook in the furtherance of that aren’t immune from prosecution.
And that’s when Roberts will overthrow it, because they can’t have their newly minted king missing his tee time rotting in a Georgia prison.
I dunno…
You could well be right, but I have a hard time believing that any court - even this grotesquely corrupt one - would attempt such rulings.
So far, while obviously a significant threat, their immunity rulings have actually been broadly in line with established precedent. And they specifically stated that the precise definition of an “official act” was something that was going to have to be worked out in future rulings.
Even with as cynical as I am, I find it hard to believe that they actually intend to rule that anything that might be done in the midst of carrying out some entirely and completely unrelated official act is afforded the same protection as that official act. That would rather obviously make it so that the president could, for instance, pause in the middle of signing a bill and do literally anything - absolutely anything at all - and be entirely immune from any and all consequences.
Yes - it is possible that they’ll rule that way, but again, even as cynical as I am, I can’t imagine that they actually will, if for no other reason than that that would empower the president to order the summary execution of all Supreme Court justices.
gestures broadly
Have you been paying attention lately?
Here’s the problem. Attempting to prosecute someone based on that logic borders on entrapment. Based on the way the ruling is worded, Trump could call Seal Team 6 tomorrow and "tell them to take out <insert legitimate threat here>. Oh, and by the way, take out Dolly Parton on the way there. " , and nobody could do anything about it. Since he was in the midst of carrying out an official duty, he can’t even be asked about the contents of the phone call, let alone if he ordered them to take out Dolly Parton. " Sure, the Supreme Court may very well rule that it was not an official act…years from now, after it’s made its way through the rest of the court system. But you can’t go back and charge someone with a crime for committing an act that was perfectly legal when it was committed. And right now, based on the wording of the Supreme Court ruling, the President would be absolutely immune from even being investigated for it, let alone prosecuted – until they say otherwise. Which would be fine for whoever is #2 on Trump’s hit list, but it would still suck to be Dolly Parton.
That’s pretty much exactly what they said would happen. They spelled it out in great detail. If the President is engaging in an official act, he cannot be investigated for it, and the act and anything related to it cannot be used as evidence against him, even if it’s evidence of an unrelated crime. Which means yes, right now he can literally pause in the middle of signing a bill, order the military to nuke Wisconsin because he hates cheese, finish signing the bill, and nobody can touch him.
Yeah, Fuckface 45 is a problem. Unfortunately, there are ba6by others that he installed that are continuing to make the problem much much worse.
The coup marches on.
Conservatives have been working towards installing their king for decades. Now they have it.