Dan Rather: “American Ideal That No Person Is Above the Law Died Today”

You remember Donald Trump’s flippant crack about being a “dictator: but just for one day.” Well, thanks to his handpicked Supreme Court justices and the decision that they rendered today, his chances of doing precisely that have become “exponentially easier,” according to Dan Rather. Isn’t that a disspiriting idea?  I think of Dan Rather a lot because he was a key figure in journalism during many milestones in my childhood and youth. He was in Dallas on the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated and he was assigned to the White House during the Watergate era, a time in our history when an insecure and morally challenged president assaulted the foundation of our fundamental democratic trust in government.

We were stunned by the events that unfolded back in the 1970’s and bear in mind, this was an era of no Fox News and no Rush Limbaugh. Conspiracy theories were limited to Bigfoot and eggheaded space aliens, not to elected officials seeking to influence presidential elections in their favor. It was a more innocent time.

And the Supreme Court was venerated. Those justices had a lifetime appointment and they brought a generational influence to bear. While that used to be a steadying thought, a comforting one, even, after today’s ruling, it’s more of a frightening one. Justice Sotomeyer closed her opinion with the words, “With fear for our democracy, I dissent.” She is not alone in that sentiment. She, Dan Rather, and so many of us feel the same chill in our hearts and souls as Justice Sotomayor does in hers.

The American ideal that no person is above the law died today. The Supreme Court killed it. And the belief in an independent judiciary took a big hit too. Ruling along party lines, the Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 decision that says that Donald Trump (or any U.S. president) is immune from prosecution for official acts taken while in office. The court made a distinction between official and private conduct.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, said that immunity for official conduct was needed to protect “an energetic, independent executive.”

The right-wing justices did what they were hired to do: protect Donald Trump by delaying prosecution while dismantling democracy. How does this court ever regain the trust of the nation? It can’t.

The decision would give Trump in a second term more power, especially if the House stays in Republican hands. The congressional right wing would never impeach their dear leader.

THE DISSENT
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a vigorous dissenting opinion, wrote, “The court effectively creates a law-free zone around the president, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the founding.” The decision “makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law,” she continued.

Sotomayor carried on, pulling no punches. “The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. 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.”

This is horrifying. This is what this court, the Roberts court, hath wrought. This is a decision which I predict will not stand long because it’s on such a shaky legal and moral foundation to begin with. It was cobbled together to be a payoff to the man who appointed three of the justices who voted it into being. The Roberts court slow rolled the January 6 case to begin with and now, with this ruling, the case will return to the lower court to determine whether Donald Trump’s actions on January 6 were official acts or private ones.

The court has basically guaranteed that Trump will not face legal accountability for trying to overturn a free and fair election before the next election — and perhaps ever.

That is what the Roberts court achieved today, to protect the most corrupt president in our history from accountability. That, and its own demise as a trusted, independent judiciary, which it clearly is not. And of course the reality TV actor crowed like a rooster.

THE FUTURE PRESIDENTS WILL THANK ME IN 100 YEARS!

— Donald J. Trump (Parody) (@realDonParody) July 1, 2024

I don’t know if we’re going to be here in 100 years. At the rate we’re going, it doesn’t look promising.

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