By looking to future, #SCOTUS may push #Trump’s DC trial past election
With the #immunity claims before the #SupremeCourt on Thurs, the #judicial branch is being asked to draw a clear line about what a president can or cannot do.
The high court, w/3 Trump nominees, has generally not been receptive to Trump’s assertions of immunity, forcing him to comply w/a #subpoena & rejecting his efforts to block #Congress from accessing his tax records.
But close observers of the court said several of the justices also will not want to inappropriately rein in future chief execs from doing what the job requires.
At least 4, Chief Justice #JohnRoberts & Justices #Alito, #Kagan, #Kavanaugh — all of whom previously worked as lawyers in the WH or the #DOJ, are likely to be especially sensitive to the implications of their decision for future presidents.
#SCOTUS is hearing a challenge today to a federal #law prosecutors used to charge >350 people who attacked the Capitol on #Jan6.
>100 have been convicted & sentenced under the statute for obstructing or impeding an ofcl proceeding—the joint session that convened to confirm Biden’s victory.
The case could impact #Trump’s federal trial in DC for trying to remain in power, 2 charges he faces are based on the same #obstruction statute.
Chief Justice #JohnRoberts ruled in favor of that narrower reading.But Justices #Alito & #ClarenceThomas, the only other 2justices who are still on the court today, did not.In a dissent written by Alito,they said reading “#otherwise” to mean “limited to”equally purposeful, aggressive acts “does not follow the statutory language.” When asked what earlier case best supported his argument that #obstruction of Congress only covers evidence tampering,Green responded:“Begay is our best case for sure.”
SCOTUS dragging its feet on a decision about Trump’s ludicrous immunity claim is a stain on the court that cannot be washed out. It will be written and talked about for centuries to come. Shame on John Roberts and the Right-wing justices.
SCOTUS dragging their feet on a decision about Trump’s ludicrous immunity claim is a stain on the court that cannot be washed out. It will be written and talked about for centuries to come. Shame on John Roberts and the Right-wing justices.
Eric Segall warns that with the current Supreme Court, there's a constitutional apocalypse on the horizon:
"Since Justice Kennedy retired and Justice Ginsburg passed away, the Roberts Court has been on a conservative rampage, overturning Roe, turning the Second Amendment into a super-charged destroyer of reasonable gun reform," (continued in /2)
"ending affirmative action, greatly strengthening the free exercise clause, ignoring and/or distorting the establishment clause, and trying to return to a libertarian, pre-New Deal understanding of the administrative state. In other words, the justices in a very short time have implemented a substantial part of the Federalist Society's most important policy agenda."
#SCOTUS is “…far behind in issuing rulings for cases heard since the start of the term in Oct. The #court has announced just 5 decisions, leaving 92% of cases to be resolved b4 the term ends in late Jun or early Jul.
“…the court’s backlog represents the slowest pace of any term in the tenure of CJ #JohnRoberts. By Mar1 of the ‘05 term, the court had issued rulings in >⅓ of its cases. That dropped to 21% by this point in the ‘20 term. This yr, it is at 8%.”
Chief Justice #JohnRoberts is giving prosecutors a week to respond to #Trump’s request to keep his federal #criminal election-subversion #trial on hold while he tries to persuade #SCOTUS to scuttle it entirely on the grounds of #PresidentialImmunity.