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Legal experts: "Shameful" Supreme Court put US one vote away from "the end of democracy" (www.salon.com)

submitted 6 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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"Unlikely Trump will ever be tried for the crimes he committed," says ex-Judge J. Michael Luttig

It’s not a hard question, or at least it hasn’t been before: Does the United States have a king – one empowered to do as they please without even the pretext of being governed by a law higher than their own word – or does it have a president? Since Donald Trump began claiming he enjoys absolute immunity from prosecution for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, two courts have issued rulings striking down this purported right, recognizing that one can have a democracy or a dictatorship, but not both.

“We cannot accept former President Trump’s claim that a President has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power – the recognition and implementation of election results,” states the unanimous opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, issued this past February, upholding a lower court’s take on the question. “Nor can we sanction his apparent contention that the Executive has carte blanche to violate the rights of individual citizens to vote and have their votes cast.”

You can’t well keep a republic if it’s effectively legal to overthrow it. But at oral arguments last week, conservative justices on the Supreme Court – which took up the case rather than cosign the February ruling – appeared desperate to make the simple appear complex. Justice Samuel Alito, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, argued that accountability was what would actually lead to lawlessness.

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[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago

The Supreme Court is illegitimate because of what you said. By association, the presidency is also illegitimate. And since the Senate is undemocratic and Congress should have a couple thousand folks in it rather than 435, both of those are illegitimate.

Thankfully, they still have the monopoly of violence.

[-] 2piradians@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago

Congress should have a couple thousand folks in it rather than 435

This is exactly it. This is what hamstrings the will of the majority and lends relevance to these lunatics we're having to endure.

Many revere our founders, and I'm quite sure if they could comment on this mess they'd say something like "There are how many millions of citizens? And you stopped adding representatives at 435? That's the problem. Why?"

[-] snekerpimp@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

We outnumber them, by a bunch. And they know that. Well, the smart ones allowing “democracy” to prevail knew it, I don’t know about these crazies going for the power grab right now.

We lack organization, ability to plan as one. The conspiracy theorist in me says they know that as well, hence why they are attacking ways of obtaining information and organization.

this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2024

576 points (97.5% liked)

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