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The alarm bells are ringing throughout the land, with an urgency matching that of Paul Revere’s ride back in 1775. The danger is great; as great as it was then, as great as it was in 1861, or in the years leading up to 1941. All Americans, regardless of party, if any, must open their eyes and ears to it.
American democracy is being endangered as never before! It is being challenged by an autocracy serving and benefitting oligarchs and billionaires, and they already control the Executive and Legislative branches of our government. As of now, only the Judiciary seems to be surviving.
JL
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‘A King Above the Law’ - Justice Sotomayor Made it Clear
First, let me refresh your memories.
For his conduct that occurred late during his first Presidency, a federal grand jury had indicted then former President, Donald J. Trump, on four counts following the November 2020 election.
The indictment alleged that after losing that election, but while still President, Trump conspired to overturn it by spreading knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the collecting, counting, and certifying of the election results.
Trump moved to dismiss the indictment based on Presidential immunity, arguing that a President has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions performed within the outer perimeter of his official responsibilities, and that the indictment’s allegations fell within the core of his official duties.
The D.C. District Court denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the indictment, holding that former Presidents do not possess federal criminal immunity for any acts and the D.C. Circuit Court affirmed that decision. Both courts, however, declined to decide whether the indicted conduct involved official acts.
But on July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court, in a 6 to 3 decision in ‘Trump vs. the United States,’ finally ruled that then former President Trump was at least presumptively immune from criminal liability for his official acts and was absolutely immune for some “core” of them, including his attempts to use the Justice Department to obstruct the results of the election. With respect to Trump’s other actions, the SCOTUS left to the lower courts much of the work required to determine which acts are immune and which are not.
This decision meant that a president was free to use at least their official powers while in office to engage in criminal acts substantially free of accountability.
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By now, that is all water that has flowed over the dam, and based on that decision, it is accepted law that a President is immune from indictment for criminal acts committed as part of his official duties while in office, although there is some lack of clarity as to what are official acts and what are not. And of course, Donald Trump is now back in office, having been reelected in November of 2024, and possessing the immunity discussed above. Unfortunately, that immunity has emboldened him to embark on a course of disrespect for the rule of law and for the judges who are assigned the task of administering it.
President Trump said on his ‘Truth Social’ platform this week, objecting to a judge’s having ordered his administration to turn around planes carrying migrants said to be members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador while he (the judge) considered whether their removal was lawful, that “This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President,” and that “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”
Defying the Judge’s order, the planes continued on to El Salvador where the administration had arranged for incarceration. Normally, such defiance would be an indictable criminal act, but not when carried out by a President with immunity for his official acts, as the SCOTUS provided to him in their 2024 ruling.
The President’s outburst led Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. to issue a rare public statement on Tuesday saying “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.” He ignored the rest of Trump’s intemperate remarks.
Roberts, who wrote the July 2024 opinion in Trump vs. the United States, should now be aware that the Supreme Court decision giving immunity for criminal acts committed by Presidents in connection with their official acts, opened the door wider for Trump’s existing disrespect for the ‘rule of law.' Roberts certainly knows he is dealing with someone who is not deterred by having been convicted of 34 felonies by a jury in New York State,
Back in 2024, the two other dissenting Justices joined Justice Sotomayor’s dissent that stated that while ‘Former President Trump has some immunity for his official actions, (our) colleagues had made the president into ‘a king above the law.’ Writing that the majority was ‘deeply wrong,’ Justice Sotomayor added that ‘beyond its consequences for the bid to prosecute Mr. Trump for his attempt to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election, it would have ‘stark’ long-term consequences for the future of American democracy.”
This week’s deportation activities and President Trump’s defiance of a judge’s order prove that Justice Sotomayor was correct. Trump indeed believes he is ‘a king above the law.’
The lines are being drawn and the SCOTUS, three of whose justices were appointed by Trump, will have to take sides in the challenge to the Constitution posed by the President, and who feels, based on their 2024 decision, that he is allowed to run roughshod over judges and the Constitution itself.
Failure to stand fast for the Constitution would put the Supreme Court and our system of justice on the same chopping block that the President has put many government entities.
The alarm bells are sounding, loud and clear, for all Americans to hear. Democrats, Republicans, everyone, must join in defense of the Constitution! This means YOU!
It is up to those who recognize this to stand up proudly for America, speak up loudly for democracy, and join in the chorus of Americans protesting the excesses of the present administration and the Congress it has frightened into obedience.
(See Jackspotpourri dated March 17 for some minimal suggestions as to how you can do your part; it may automatically appear below this posting on some devices.)
JL
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Read a Newspaper Every Day
I read the ‘Opinion’ pages of the Palm Beach Post every day they appear. (They don’t appear on Mondays and Tuesdays.) Almost all the letters published there come from readers condemning the President and his Administration.
It’s not that his supporters cannot express themselves. The very few who submit letters merely echo his ‘talking points.’ There really is nothing of substance that they can say in his defense that makes any sense. This is one of the reasons Republicans are cancelling ‘town hall’ meetings, avoiding answering questions asked by those that voted for them. They are asked questions they cannot answer.
It is important that concerned Americans read a daily newspaper each day, preferably its ‘print’ edition, although it might not be as up-to-the-minute as an online version. (The latest ball scores are always available on the internet.) Readers’ letters and ‘opinion’ columnists in a 'print' edition are automatically put before the readers’ eyes whereas in an online version, a reader has to take the time to seek them out, something they often might not do.
Printed and delivered local newspapers are available at bargain prices (usually made up for by the grocery coupons in their advertisements). In South Florida, the Palm Beach Post, the Sun Sentinel, and the Miami Herald do an excellent job, and of course, the New York Times or Washington Post do an even better one but they lack the local flavor. All can be delivered to your doorstep each morning.
JL
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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri
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JL
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