A lot of times you can look at what somebody does and come up with different possible reasons for their actions. Some legitimate, some sinister.
You could probably do that with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear former president/insurrectionist/sexual assaulter/tax fraudster Donald Trump’s claim that he’s immune from criminal prosecution in the Jan. 6 case brought against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
But I only see one reason: Our historically corrupt Supreme Court, with its conservative majority that includes three of his appointees, is trying to help Trump by delaying his trial until after the upcoming election. After all, a conviction certainly wouldn’t help Trump, and if wins in November and returns to power he’ll just have his (not the, but his) Justice Department throw out the cases against him.
(I emphasize that I’m not saying every member of the court is corrupt, but as a body, because of who controls what happens, it is.)
This is what a corrupt court controlled by political operatives from a corrupt political party led by a corrupt former president does. And no one can stop them because they get to make the ultimate decision and, with their lifetime appointments, are accountable to absolutely nobody.
Nice work if you can get it.
The expectation is that if forced to make a decision the court will eventually deny Trump’s claim. They may be crooked but they’re not stupid. Most if not all of them don’t want their names on maybe the most politically motivated, corrupt ruling in history.
Rather, the delay gives Trump a chance to get out of the soup himself if he wins back the White House. (As an aside, if he ends up being convicted, or even if he just loses the election, get ready to rumble. The MAGA sheep won’t take it well.)
The current configuration of our highest court is corrupt for multiple reasons: The selection process was corrupted by Republicans in the Senate, multiple members lied to Congress about their position on Roe v. Wade, and some of them have received lavish gifts that any honest judge – as well as any who would actually face consequences for their actions – would turn down in a split second.
So here we are, and the intent of these clowns – at least to me – seems pretty obvious when you look at their actions.
First, the court turned down Smith’s request in December that it take up the case before it goes through the appeals process. Then, after two federal courts ruled that Trump has no immunity from civil or criminal consequences in his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, the Supremes killed two weeks before deciding to take a look at it themselves.
Remember they could have let the appeals decisions stand and not hear the case, which to the experts looks like an obviously loser. But they still weren’t done putting their fat thumb on the scales of justice.
The Supremes then decided to wait seven more weeks to hear the matter – which is maybe the most important case before them considering its ramifications – setting a hearing for April 22. Why so long? Attorneys for both sides have done this before in the lower courts. I’m not a lawyer, but I think they could be ready well before that to do it again.
Still, the court wasn’t done trying to screw with the case. It decided to not allow trial preparations to continue while we await their decision. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has estimated it will take 88 days to get ready for trial. If that’s case, you can add three more months of delay.
Washington Post Associate Editor Ruth Marcus estimated that at this pace the trial won’t start until September at the earliest. If so, Trump will then claim it should be further delayed because that’s too close to the election.
You can read Marcus’s column, “Supreme Court aids and abets Trump’s bid for delay,” here.
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It pisses me off every time I hear some pundit say or write that “no man is above the law.” That’s bullshit. All across the country people get away with things because of who they are or who they know, and it stinks.
Trump is no exception. Starting with gutless Attorney General Merrick Garland dragging his feet on going after the kingpin of Jan. 6, through the kid-glove treatment he got in the Mar-a-lago documents case, through his brazen attempts at intimating witnesses, slandering prosecutors, judges, and court personnel, and poisoning the jury pool that would get the rest of us thrown in jail for contempt of court or worse.
The only saving grace for our system will be if we finally get to a fair and honest trail of this scumbag. That’s all we can realistically hope for.
This disgraceful sandbagging by the court is still another reason that it must be expanded the next time Democrats control the presidency and both houses of Congress. If then-speaker Mitch McConnell hadn’t rigged the selection system, Democrats would hold a 5-4 advantage. Adding four seats would make the count 7-6.
I heard a pundit make a good point the other day. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, maybe the slimiest of the bunch, are getting up in age. With Trump in the White House and Republicans regaining control of the Senate, the two can retire and be replaced by two much-younger GOP political hacks, helping the GOP’s effort to establish minority rule through the courts to continue, maybe for decades.
You see, that’s the real game for the Republicans. The majority of the country doesn’t like a lot of their policies, so one of their strategies is to have the courts, including the Supreme Court, staffed with enough Republicans that they’ll simply rule in its favor when cases against their pro-rich, anti-poor-and-middle-class, anti-environment agenda come before them.
That’s what a rigged system looks like. They’re giving us a preview now. The question is, will Democrats be tough enough to do something about it when they have a chance?
Give Trump and the Republicans the opportunity, and the damage they wreak on our country, our democracy, and our rule of law may be too devastating for us to overcome.
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