WASHINGTON, DC — In an unsparing dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the Supreme Court allowed a president to become a “king above the law” in its ruling that limited the scope of criminal charges against former President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the election.
She called the decision, which likely ended the prospect of a trial for Trump before the November election, “utterly indefensible.”
“The court effectively creates a law-free zone around the president, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the founding,” she wrote. She was joined by liberal justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who wrote another dissent referring to the ruling’s consequences as a “five alarm fire.”
Sotomayor read her dissent aloud in the courtroom, with a weighty delivery that underscored her criticism of the majority. She strongly pronounced each word, pausing at certain moments and gritting her teeth at others.
“Ironic isn’t it? The man in charge of enforcing laws can now just break them,” Sotomayor said.
Chief Justice John […]
The conservatives are consolidating their conception of the unitary executive. As we continue to be an empire in decline and the major parties represent fewer and fewer of the electorate increased repression will be the only tool left to them. This ruling removes the barriers to that increased repression. We cannot change our situation until we are willing to admit to ourselves how bad things really are. We have been moving in the direction for many years with the support of Republicans and Democrats both. If you want change we must change our behavior, and ask what we can do personally, and locally for the good of the community. We must also vote differently. If you do not vote for the major parties, “it may be THE government, but it’s not MY government. It doesn’t represent me.” You don’t own their actions while you’re working to build the type of community you want to live in.
No wars, no terrorist attacks, no riots are scarier than what this totally biased, religion based, politically based Supreme Court Six has decided on presidential immunity! And this is probably even an understatement! The Founding Fathers were so careful to make sure the executive branch was not for a king and yet they never conceived that a Supreme Court or a president could be this evil to want total power over this country. So now a president can order a Seal Team to go out and kill one of his rivals with total immunity because it is an executive action? These are the most perilous times I can ever remember and wise minds need to work on what the people of this country can do to protect our sacred democracy. At the moment, the most important action that MUST BE TAKEN IS TO ELECT JOE BIDEN!!!! At least this is a temporary blockage of a dictatorship and with the possibility of removing at least two of these power-hungry justices!
I agree with both you, Terri, as well as you, Albus. Why should we even alow a person like Trump who I consider a terrorist, who wants the presidential office to become a dictatorship. He would stay in power forever if he can overide the constitution as he has already said he would do.
I am happy to hear Sotomayor say the things she has said; it is sooooo TRUE.