From his first day in office—and every day since then—President Biden has taken action to strengthen American democracy and protect the rule of law. In
The Supreme Court gave him an avenue, an official act by executive order. Remove 3 conservative justices reducing the Court to it’s original number of 6.
No, there are a lot of things that are not legal but also not criminal. Here, the difference is whether or not the President is empowered to take such action. Similarly, the President cannot enact a new tax law or bind the nation to a treaty as he lacks the legal authority to do so, but attempting to do so wouldn’t (under some scenarios) be an otherwise criminal act.
Fair point, it’s not a de facto legalization. However, I have to question the intent behind allowing for such varied interpretations of presidential immunity. Confining it to official or unofficial leaves an insane amount of wiggle room, when they could have decided to allow for real scrutiny within the context of an action and whose purposes it actually serves.
As it stands, a conversation between a president and election officials, regardless of context, is an official act. Presidents are allowed to talk to people in an official capacity, so regardless of what is said during those conversations, it’s completely fine? Why not provide any guidelines on what constitutes an official act? It’s just too broad for anything other than a “I’m sure people will just be cool” acceptance, which is exactly why we find ourselves in this situation to begin with.
(Edited to add what I’m told is called a “para-graph”)
Let the 6 member court deliberate this executive decision. Democrats need to stop asking for permission. Republicans don’t. They act, then apologize for overstepping. Democrats need to stop being defensive and start being offensive.
The Democrats should have taken the gloves off after McConnell refused to confirm Garland and ended the filibuster.
since the Democrats don’t have a time machine, I just want them to learn from their mistakes. They’re still using the same strategy of when they go low, we go high -and we lose.
Also, the reality is these rulings are only when it benefits whomever pays them the most.
You’d have to convince Putin and a lot of trillion dollar corps that own these justices first. Which seems very unlikely.
He could sacrifice himself for the greater good and commit illegal acts to wipe the SCOTUS and start again with people that will hold him accountable for his illegal acts. He has a unique opportunity that will go away either through reform or the dismantling of US democracy. Either way, the opportunity is now or never
The scorched earth approach would cause problems for Kamala’s campaign. After the election however there are a couple months where Biden is still in charge and could go scorched earth with impunity (which would also demonstrate how stupid that system is as well).
Or, better yet, increase the number of justices to at least the number of circuits we have. I would say take that number and multiply it by three so that there are 3 from each that can form a small panel to deal with smaller issues and form a larger, randomly selected, 9-11 judge panel to deal with bigger issues. It would also dramatically limit the power any one justice holds. Mandate a strict code of ethics and disclosure and put in term limits.
Despite the actual structure of the Constitution and all of its amendments, the Supreme Court, as an institution, has fought to exceed the limits of its constitutional power from the very beginning. Its ruling in Loper Bright is only its latest and most brazen move to set itself up as the ultimate and final authority in the nation. As I said, the appropriate historical context for its ruling today is not 1984 and its Chevrondecision but its 1803 ruling in Marbury v. Madison. It was then, back when the country was still in its swaddling blankets, that the Supreme Court declared itself the sole interpreter of the Constitution. The word “unconstitutional” appears nowhere in the Constitution, and the power to decide what is or is not constitutional was not given to the court in the Constitution or by any of the amendments. The court decided for itself that it had the power to revoke acts of Congress and declare actions by the president “unconstitutional,” and the elected branches went along with it. The Supreme Court was never supposed to have this much power
Tbf it is difficult to uphold the constitution in another way. For instance, if Congress passes a bill that contradicts the constitution you have a contradiction. How else, than through courts, would you resolve the contradiction?
Yes. Without the courts ability to determine if something is unconstitutional then it would always be up to Congress / the executive to decide what is constitutional and what is not. That presents an obvious separation of powers problem and could easily be misused by a Congress or executive branch that are hostile to certain rights.
The Supreme Court gave him an avenue, an official act by executive order. Remove 3 conservative justices reducing the Court to it’s original number of 6.
The Court’s decision just removes criminal liability for the President for such official acts. It does not render them legal or proper.
Doesn’t removing criminal liability basically make it legal?
No, there are a lot of things that are not legal but also not criminal. Here, the difference is whether or not the President is empowered to take such action. Similarly, the President cannot enact a new tax law or bind the nation to a treaty as he lacks the legal authority to do so, but attempting to do so wouldn’t (under some scenarios) be an otherwise criminal act.
Fair point, it’s not a de facto legalization. However, I have to question the intent behind allowing for such varied interpretations of presidential immunity. Confining it to official or unofficial leaves an insane amount of wiggle room, when they could have decided to allow for real scrutiny within the context of an action and whose purposes it actually serves.
As it stands, a conversation between a president and election officials, regardless of context, is an official act. Presidents are allowed to talk to people in an official capacity, so regardless of what is said during those conversations, it’s completely fine? Why not provide any guidelines on what constitutes an official act? It’s just too broad for anything other than a “I’m sure people will just be cool” acceptance, which is exactly why we find ourselves in this situation to begin with.
(Edited to add what I’m told is called a “para-graph”)
Let’s see SCOTUS enforce a ruling.
TokenBoomer didn’t say how the Justices were to be removed.
👿
Edit: I am not advocating for violence………………. . . yet.
Is it technically murder if the president orders it?
Its assassination which to me, sounds like an official act.
Which, per the Justices in question, is totally legal and cool if the President does it.
IMHO that’s even worse. “We know it’s wrong, but we actually think it’s necessary and okay” sort of energy.
Let the 6 member court deliberate this executive decision. Democrats need to stop asking for permission. Republicans don’t. They act, then apologize for overstepping. Democrats need to stop being defensive and start being offensive.
They haven’t apologized in a long time
The Democrats should have taken the gloves off after McConnell refused to confirm Garland and ended the filibuster.
since the Democrats don’t have a time machine, I just want them to learn from their mistakes. They’re still using the same strategy of when they go low, we go high -and we lose.
Also, the reality is these rulings are only when it benefits whomever pays them the most.
You’d have to convince Putin and a lot of trillion dollar corps that own these justices first. Which seems very unlikely.
He could sacrifice himself for the greater good and commit illegal acts to wipe the SCOTUS and start again with people that will hold him accountable for his illegal acts. He has a unique opportunity that will go away either through reform or the dismantling of US democracy. Either way, the opportunity is now or never
The scorched earth approach would cause problems for Kamala’s campaign. After the election however there are a couple months where Biden is still in charge and could go scorched earth with impunity (which would also demonstrate how stupid that system is as well).
Or, better yet, increase the number of justices to at least the number of circuits we have. I would say take that number and multiply it by three so that there are 3 from each that can form a small panel to deal with smaller issues and form a larger, randomly selected, 9-11 judge panel to deal with bigger issues. It would also dramatically limit the power any one justice holds. Mandate a strict code of ethics and disclosure and put in term limits.
Tbf it is difficult to uphold the constitution in another way. For instance, if Congress passes a bill that contradicts the constitution you have a contradiction. How else, than through courts, would you resolve the contradiction?
Yes. Without the courts ability to determine if something is unconstitutional then it would always be up to Congress / the executive to decide what is constitutional and what is not. That presents an obvious separation of powers problem and could easily be misused by a Congress or executive branch that are hostile to certain rights.
Biden could make a presidential address during prime time to declare a general strike until his demands are met.
We need to start thinking of extra-legal and post-electoral means of effecting change.