Here is my fantasy to save American democracy:
In June, 2024, the US Supreme Court ruled in the case of Trump v. USA, that American presidents enjoy broad protections from criminal prosecutions for all presidential acts they undertake during their term in office. Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his decision: "We conclude that under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of presidential power requires that a former president have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office. At least with respect to the President’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute. As for his remaining official actions, he is also entitled to immunity. "
This ruling places US presidents above the law, a radical rejection of a bedrock principle of a rule of law and 200+ years of US political history. The ruling baffled many legal scholars, who point out that the US Constitution itself provides no written basis for such a ruling. The SCOTUS appears to have crafted this decision out of whole cloth, without legal substance.
(As an aside, I’m pretty sure the Supreme Court would use the same shoddy legal reasoning to rule that Supreme Court justices likewise have legal immunity if someone were to ever indict a Supreme Court justice.)
I myself think this new SCOTUS ruling is a danger to our democracy, and I keep thinking that Pres. Joe Biden can easily fix it. Right now, Joe Biden is president. Which means he now has full legal immunity for anything he does officially. President Biden can now officially order the arrest of the predicate felon Trump, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and John Roberts, charge them on suspicion of being foreign agents, and render them to Guantanamo Bay for enhanced interrogation and indefinite detainment. If Biden designates the quartet of corruption as “terrorists”, a number of otherwise proscribed investigative techniques and charging statutes also become legally available.
Such an act, tho’ once blatantly unconstitutional, is yet now perfectly protected by legal immunity, and would have a number of benefits for our country and society:
1) President Biden would eliminate the threat of the adjudicated sexual assaulter as president and future dictator.
2) President Biden would immediately rid America of a cabal of corrupt Supreme Court justices, perhaps paving the way for rapid and thorough reform of the court.
3) Justice-loving Americans would cheer seeing the adjudicated fraud finally incarcerated.
4) Conservative legislators and judges would quickly become highly motivated to write new legislation and issue new court ruling making clear that presidents are accountable to the law. Who knows: conservative just might find new respect for a rule of law and our US Constitution.
That’s my fantasy. But I think we all know that Biden will not take these perfectly legal steps in order to preserve our democracy, even as he speaks out about the dangers of Trump and MAGA, and complains about the corruption of the SCOTUS.
Pres. Biden won’t do this because he is an old-school reach-across-the-aisle American politician, and, like myself and I’m guessing most people reading this, has a sort of now misplaced sympathy or archaic respect for the idea of a rule of law, or for the democracy we previously imagined we were. By itself, the idea that a president can or should arrest a political opponent and/or sitting judges is anathema to democracy. But we can no longer rightfully call ourselves a democracy. When presidents are above the law, there is no democracy. There is now only a long-standing tradition or convention of not arresting ex-presidents and sitting judges — a guardrail if you will. And Pres. Biden is one of those old-school American politicians who try their utmost to honor, respect and preserve such guardrails. Even tho’ I’m pretty sure he understands exactly what conservatives think about long-standing traditions and conventions that hinder their desire to control others.
And Pres. Biden won’t take this action because Biden is now 81 years. He has been serving in public office since 1971. His political career is ending, and the last thing he wants right now is a constitutional fight. He is thinking about his legacy. Right now, Biden’s legacy is the guy who defeated Trump, and as president, brought America out of the covid pandemic and slowed inflation with a strong economy. But if thing go pear-shaped, Biden’s legacy could well be the guy who oversees the peaceful transfer of power to an avowed dictator and Putin surrogate. Biden should keep in mind that Neville Chamberlain has a legacy too.
I kinda understand: it is so tempting to take the path of least resistance, and hope that the liberals win the upcoming election and wishfully thinking that conservatives will allow any winner not named Trump to peacefully take the office of president. But I think he has to act. After all, Biden and his son Hunter could be among the first to be sent off to the gulags.
Pres. Biden is today perfectly positioned to take strong decisive action against the manifest enemies of America, and right the ship of democracy. It is perfectly legal for him to do so. He is at the end of career and has no more political f*cks to give. But I can’t really expect Biden to take action; this is just my fantasy. And so we all wait, anxiously teetering on the edge of tyranny.
