Has the Supreme Court Just Paved the Road to Dictatorship in America?
Siem Reap, Cambodia, July 2nd, 2024.
Salaroche

US Presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for any and all official acts they perform as presidents. That’s what the Supreme Court just ruled in a completely partisan decision.

The question now is, what is a presidential official act and what isn’t? Is sending Navy SEALs to assassinate a political rival an official act? Is asking for money, i.e., bribery, from a foreign government official in exchange for military assistance to their country an official act? Who and under what criteria will determine the difference between the one and the other?

We all knew that US presidents were entitled to considerable immunity for actions performed while discharging their presidential duties, but now such immunity is granted by law, even as the boundaries of that law are not yet specifically delineated.

In the short term, this means that the January 6 case against Trump will be delayed past the November elections, as it will now first have to be determined which of the charges that have been brought against him fall within the official-duties category or even within “the outer perimeter” of those duties and which don’t.

In the long run, this ruling will present future presidents with a strong temptation to manipulate legal concepts and definitions to perpetuate themselves in power or even to basically get away with murder. In other words, the gates that had barred the country from walking down the road to dictatorship keep opening wider almost by the day.

Tanya Chutkan, the judge presiding over the J6 trial, will now have some additional consequential responsibilities in her hands, as it will now be up to her to decide how to proceed in elucidating which of the charges that have been brought against Trump should be dismissed because they fall within the immunity scope and which shouldn’t.

The Supreme Court’s decision doesn’t hand carte blanche to the president and it remains to be seen whether it will eventually get Trump off the hook in the J6 trial, but it certainly favors Trump in that it delays the trial till after the elections.

This doesn’t look like a very promising situation for America. Not much good is in the offing for the sociopolitical stability of the country. This is no time for dilly-dallying. No time to be picky or capricious. November 5th is poised to be one of the most consequential days for the future of American Democracy and it will be largely up to us to determine what that future will be.

There are no two ways about it. If you really love your country, don’t vote Republican in November.

Salaroche