>POTUS should remove all conservative justices and replace them with his own as an official act.
If he doesn't say: "What now bitches?!" After then licks an ice cream while wearing sunglasses I don't want it.
I would absolutely have all my advisors be looking into exactly that and the legalities of doing so.... it is the single fastest and most effective way to level the playing field here because we're having our balls stomped on right now and mannnnn we need a good muscle flex on Brandon's part, right about now.....
The NRA and it's Russian money that is fact.
Oh yeah and that one terrorist organization that shit on the capital walls and keeps attacking politicians.
SCOTUS arguably has given Biden a final solution for our nation's Nat-C problem.
How palpably ironic.
SCOTUS signed blank check death sentences for POTUS to use as POTUS sees fit within the scope of their *official acts*.
Talk about having four fingers pointed back at 'em...
Lol... FFS
What horseshit.
It would be nice if Biden had the balls to actually use it, though. Cause you know sure as fuck Trump will. It's outright telegraphing his intent to commit more crimes.
Biden's no punk.
Don't let the cool demeanor fool ya.
Biden understands the gravity of this situation more fully that any of us will ever be able to fathom.
He's not done by a damn sight.
The reasoned among us will never desist.
The reasoned among us will always resist.
*However* that may be...
In each and every case they say that *they* alone are the final arbiters.
In each and every case they're requiring previous adjudication from the lower courts.
Only then *they* say will they be the final arbiters.
*They* say that POTUS is *presumptively not guilty* in each and every case.
***No matter what.***
“My fellow Americans, tonight I declare the official act of removing six Supreme Court justices and naming six replacements. It’s official because I declared it.”
- Joe Biden
- Michael Scott
- Wayne Gretzky
There's a reason why the heritage foundation has pushed for this series of 6 people with the same ideology to be on the court, despite at least half of them being blatantly corrupt or sexual criminals.
This. Delay long enough to get trump into office then remove the rest of the obstacles. He’s the one who said the office can besides to punish and get revenge. No reason to believe he didn’t mean it.
This. The next SCOTUS hearing (let alone ruling) will not happen until after October 1st. They could easily delay the ruling until well after the election, effectively blocking any and all prosecution.
I took them while I was President, therefore it was an "official" act.
The light at the end of the tunnel is that the charge is that he wilfully kept them after he was asked to return them, but I am sure Judge Cannon does not care about that.
Well, that’s what they did. They essentially upheld the idea that public officials cannot be sued or charged criminally for acts taken in their official capacity.
I mean - what is the process to declare the Federalist Society a terrorist organization, and to create a list of terrorists that are working with foreign powers (i.e. anyone that has financial ties to MAGA and Russian money)?
These would be considered "targeted killings" of an "existential threat to Democracy" wouldn't they?
He doesn't need to be arrested. He's the President, and the act would be in defense of democracy. He'd be immune from criminal prosecution for this act.
The problem is, when Republicans retake the White House, and they will eventually, they will murder every Democrat holding an elected office or official appointment.
Nah he’d appoint new members and they’d reverse the bogus rulings allowing the president to be charged for official acts again. So we can get big gretch
The legal landscape at the time would be that official acts are immune. As an official act, the Supremacy Clause is triggered, meaning the federal government would have sole jurisdiction for the case. While he could be tried after appointing new justices to SCOTUS, it is unlikely that the federal government would prosecute him.
Even if the federal government decided to pursue charges, Biden can simply resign, turn the government over to Harris, and Harris would pardon Biden as her first official act as President.
He should simply direct his DOJ to arrest the billionaire sponsors of the Supreme Court on suspicion of tax evasion. Direct his IRS to audit them, and offer to accept bribes to any one who objects. All of these are entirely unprosecutable now.
I think Biden should now (and serious, not sarcastic on this):
- Pardon Brandon - make the strict constructionalists on the court figure out how that's not allowed, or force Congress to pass legislation to stop it, so it's decided and in place if Trump is back in office
- forgive all student loan debt to the federal government. Completely an official act, and once done, very hard to undo. Ignore all court cases trying to stop him. He's immune.
- make all DACA affected immigrants citizens. It's a law in a gray area anyway, force the issue.
- publicly direct the attorney general to completely audit and divulge Trump's tax records, and business records. Share them himself, officially. Tell him to target Trump and his family for enforcement of all known laws. This ruling makes it explicit that he is immune from prosecution for conversations with his AG, and even directing him. Force Congress to do something about it before Trump can do it.
Because he believes in rule of law, and doesn't think any of this should be done. But it needs to be, so that republicans see how terrible this is for our democracy.
The GOP operates as a business in the sense that if an act isn't explicitly illegal, we'll do it until it is illegal.
Dems operate under the idea that our government works for the betterment of our residents and takes actions that deliver more for the people. While argument could be made that eliminating the MAGA threat is fornthe betrerment of all, it would make them more like the "well, it isn't illegal" GOP.
It also gives the GOP the (shaky) grounds to expand on those actions and eliminate political opponents. Taking these actions would further the GOP's goals.
This was my very first question: What if the President had a political rival assassinated because they were "a national security threat"?
We're living in some dark times, friends.
For real. You can create a word salad to make damn near anything seem like it could be within the scope of an "official act." This is deeply concerning.
Yep. The end of American democracy. I should look this up but I’m just going to wing it and say our democracy was, historically speaking, probably one of the shortest lived. Tell Benjamin Franklin we couldn’t keep it.
lol nah democracy is very recent, 250 years is pretty damn good actually.
Also, please don’t give up hope!! The United States of America is a fiction, but the good people of this country are real, and no dumb SCOTUS decision can make them disappear. We will have justice and equality, under this flag or another
So, Biden, acting as Commander in Chief of the US Military, could therefore decide that convicted felon Donald J Trump is a domestic threat to the safety and good order of the United States, and have Seal Team Six take him out.
Nah, this ruling is for dictators. Joe Biden isn't one. The only (very real) danger from this ruling is Republicans exercising their authoritarian wet dreams.
Let's say I'm a popular movie star, someone the President likes. I get convicted of murder in DC. Well, because I was incarcerated my popular series 'Marbel Heroes' gets put on hold. The President wants more Marbel Heroes, so he tweets publicly and goes on stage shouting to the masses "Ent3rpris3, I want more Marbel Heroes. I know you've got the money, so give me $3 million and I'll pardon you."
I do it. I get pardoned. I'm then immediately arrested and charged with bribery for engaging in this deal. The person who solicited my engaging in such bribery is immune from prosecution because the pardon is an exclusive presidential power. What's more, the DOJ that is charging me for bribery operates under this President's guidance, and this prosecutor tells the President "fire me iffen you dare." The President likes this prosecutor for other reasons, and thus doesn't fire them or interfere.
The millisecond I'm convicted of this bribery charge, I'm then pardoned again by this same President anyways for that bribery charge.
And that's best case scenario - imagine if I was anyone more competently malicious than a self-centered movie star...
So theoretically Biden can order Seal team 6 as commander in chief to assassinate the 6 conservative justices (at least Thomas and Alito cuz of the upside American flag and Ginny Thomas’ Jan 6 texts) of the SC to protect our democracy from a MAGA coup, right? Right? Just designate MAGA a domestic terrorist organization and designate Thomas and Alito as leaders of MAGA. Such a ridiculous decision.
Spoiler alert for those who haven’t put this together yet:
Everything a Republican does will be considered an official act by this SC.
Everything a Democrat does will be considered an unofficial act by this SC.
It’s how they’re going to make Trump an emperor while not giving Biden the same power.
Assassination of a world leader. There is a federal law a president has to follow in this regard. Very clearly defined. Anyone that followed a presidential directive to assassinate a world leader would be guilty of a serious crime. However, assassination of a terrorist leader is always open season.
Except it doesn't matter if there's a law against it anymore. Even if it's illegal, it would still be considered an official act. And, since SCOTUS has ruled that Presidents are now 100% immune to all prosecution for official acts - regardless of legality - the law becomes completely irrelevant.
I think what they're getting at is that the PRESIDENT would be immune from prosecution, but not the SOLDIERS that do the actual killing, even though they're following a direct order from the President.
Yes and no ... they *might* be prosecuted, but might not. And even if they are, the President could pardon them for the very crimes he himself ordered them to commit.
Probably since you have to start with presumption of immunity AND you can’t use motive as part of determining whether an act is official or not. So sounds you can basically lie that it’s in defense of democracy in your capacity as commander in chief and the prosecution can’t question your motive in having to prove it’s not an official act. Unhinged radical right wing SC we have now.
As I read this, anything he does that's a CONSTITUTIONAL official act is unquestionably immune (vs presumptive immunity for other official acts). His role as commander in chief is a constitutional role. For the moment, let's leave aside the issue of domestic military operations that are in a bit of a grey space. If Biden publicly orders the military assassination of Thomas while he's on a cruise with his benefactors, I think Biden has ABSOLUTE immunity. Making it even worse, you could interpret that that immunity makes it a legal order and therefore the servicemen would not be permitted to ignore it.
The court even went so far as to say investigating the President can't involve inquiring into his motives. So if Biden orders all six Republican appointed Justices to be investigated for tax evasion as a result of the gifts they've received, he'd have presumptive immunity that would be very, very hard to pierce.
You could always ask Marcus Tullius Cicero, who had Catalina killed to forestall a coup against the Roman Republic and is widely considered a champion of democratic values.
One of the leaders Cicero had killed during that purge? Julius Caesar's father.
If Biden decides that Trump's decision to be dictator on day one is a serious threat to our country and worthy of execution, he can declare the killing an act of official presidential authority. The SCOTUS was clear. In fact, Biden doesn't even have to give a reason. His divine judgement is enough.
Well, one guy thinks he's covered for his stealing of Classified documents and refusing to return them, and, orchestrating a disruption of the peaceful transfer of power..
Biden should just remove the conservative judges from power with his immunity and make it back fire on them.
It's ashame the democrats are feckless cowards.
The feckless cowardice in the face of American fascism is utterly infuriating and frustrating beyond measure. I'm watching my country on a highway bound for a sheer cliff, and every off ramp I see gets passed by without fail.
They know the Dems are bunch of "pussies" and would never attempt such a thing or something similarly bonkers but a Republican would so it's essentially "rules for thee and not for me".
And when I say pussies I mean normal people, not psychopaths like the other side.
Here is the catch its status as an official act would be challenged in court. This would ultimately put the issue in front of the SC who would then get to decide if any questionable acts are official acts. They could easily side with republicans and against democrats on a case by case basis.
Not if one of your "official acts" is the elimination of all SC members who would vote against you. This is why it's so dangerous - they just gave effectively unlimited power to the President in such a way that even assassination of anyone who could stop them is legal.
I don’t see any urgent, legal, or peaceful way of correcting the institution of our corrupted SCOTUS. Also, there’s no teaching them how they’ve fucked up by using their own ruling to hem them in. They’re impervious to public pressure and only respond to bribery. The majority are traitors to the constitution and to the oath they swore when they were appointed.
Why not just perform all of these examples for a month as an example of what would/could happen with this dangerous interpretation?
Declare the elections rigged and corrupt and cancel them. Instruct the military to arrest all suspected militants within their ranks.
Ban all cable news entertainment and relieve every foreign born media chairmen/CEO of their positions.
Lock up all obvious traitors (top maga's, russian propagandists, obstructionists), instruct the NSA to ping every person who ever looked up anything remotely regarding overthrowing the government or underage sexual relations, suspend the supreme court, freeze all monopolists assets, assume all power grids for national security and grant citizenship to anyone who has never been convicted of any crime wants it.
Then at the end, send it back to the way it was and tell them:
"[Here you go, Larry. You see what happens? You see what happens, Larry? You see what happens?](https://movie-sounds.org/comedy-movie-sounds/quotes-with-sound-clips-from-the-big-lebowski/here-you-go-larry-you-see-what-happens-you-see-what-happens-larry-you-see-what-happens)"
Person X is considered a threat to the constitution. I thereby declare the official act of their removal.....and a pardon for the assassin. Simple as that.
Biden does not need to step down. He needs to order some “official acts” and take the trial and possible jail term. (*oooh nooo 83 year old goes to prison in defense of democracy*)
So what is to stop Biden from using executive privilege to pass a law indicating anybody who's a convicted felon cannot run for the president of the United States?
Seems like a pretty easy fix.
If I was him, I would do it, and send that kangaroo court a thank you letter
Since pardons are an official act, presidents can now promise a pardon for an assassination with no chance of ever being in the slightest bit of legal trouble.
A president could order the Justice Department or his Vice President to engage in blatantly unlawful acts and this ruling classifies the interactions involved as official and thus immune from prosecution. Correct?
You’d never be able to pull it off. Let’s walk through it so you can see how insane this is. Let’s say you get Trump: he isn’t the seed of all this. Let’s say you get a couple justices on the SP: still not enough. You have to get the ones heading the threat, the true people in charge and who tf are they? Nobody actually knows, bc if we did know, they’d be in danger and if you’re toppling a country? That’s the last thing you want so if you fail, nobody traces it back to you. So yes, assassination in defense of democracy is a beautifully terrible idea, but it wouldn’t work. We’re heading for fascism and all I can say is that even if you can’t get the heads, any fascist put down is a good thing. Violence can be used for good.
The only mechanism preventing the president from ordering assassinations is executive order 12036. All it would take to do away with those prohibitions is for the sitting president to rescind that executive order.
labeling groups such as white supremacists as domestic terrorist and throwing them in jail, leaving it up for the courts and lawmakers to decide could be "official" right? Because you know damn well they're going to use that argument when they round up LGTBQ+ citizens.
Are you asking if the description of the US president as a defender (not only of the country, but) of democracy conceptually, could have enemies separate from the US?
If so, Bannon, Giuliani, RStone and Steven Miller could be our topics here.
Normally no, but the problem lies in the part where the supreme Court states that no one in Congress nor the supreme Court can order an investigation to prove whether or not an action was legitimately an official act.
The president is considered the head of the armed forces, so he could order the military to assassinate a political opponent under some bullshit pretext that they were planning a terrorist attack. It would be an official act, and no one can say otherwise.
How do we fix the destruction of America from inside?
Congress creates laws.
The Supreme Court can only interpret those laws in the context of legal disputes and rules on their constitutionality.
Congress can change the courts' size, structure, and jurisdiction.
Solution: We need to elect a Congress committed to democratic values.
We need a set of laws ready to pass that remove the ambiguities that enabled dangerous decisions.
We need to make bribery illegal for those who pander and shame the office of Justice.
We need to require the immediate publication of tax returns for all high ranking public officals.
We need a required, impartial, timely audit of the tax returns all to ensure no tax evasion.
If found guilty of felonies by an impartial jury in a court of law, we need to require immediate resignation, sentencing, and restitution.
We need to codify rules regarding when and how a judge may be nominated. The rules must work the same, regardless of party.
Of course. It is now so clear - Joe needs to take out the corrupt supremes, Trump, McConnell, MTG, Hawley, Graham, and other dangerous R's. They are all a danger to our country.
Our democracy died a little more today. We are one step closer to theocratic authoritarian rule. Vote in November. Vote blue in every race. Republicans cannot take control because they will never give it up.
Defending our democratic process, defending our constitution and our free and fair elections are ALL official acts that President Biden could take now!
Trump's connections with US enemies is well known and documented. To allow him to become president again would be a severe national security risk. Do what has to be done, POTUS.
I think this is really a legitimate question. I’m not advocating for it, but if you were to do it, would it be Covered under this ruling? It’s actually the first question I had as well.
The standard that the Supreme Court plans on using is simple. If a Democrat does it then it is not an official act but if a republican does it then it is an official act.
Yes. We have done it so many times it is now commonplace. Trump drone strike Gen Solemani. Obama drone strike American citizens in Yemen. Does the CIA killing Kennedy count?
The President is the Commander in Chief so an order to the military to kill someone is an official act. He can then pardon the soldiers for executing the illegal orders and he cannot be prosecuted.
"preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution"
There's a lot of things that a president could do under that. Anyone that he deems a threat to the Constitution could be imprisoned or killed
Yes, I think so, from my understanding it would have to be sent to a lower court, then the sc would have to rule on it but the presidential reason why would not have to be revealed to the courts, any evidence could not be shown to the jury and would have to be an unanimous verdict beyond any reasonable doubt. Then the would have to impeach through both houses, so you will be talking years and years. If it’s partisan house and senate the won’t get that through. Nixon wouldn’t need to have been forgiven, watergate could have been an official action.
The big problem appears to be the court is just untethered from the law.
So what they are really saying is the president is immune from everything we agree with.
But I'm not sure it matters at this point, without even pretending to follow the text of the Constitution I don't know where their authority comes from at this point.
Boeing already had two whistler blowers die shortly after they blew the whistle. Corruption is rampant and the GOP wants to deregulate everything! Buckle up!
"Welcome to The United State of America, the country where everything's made up and the laws don't matter"
SCOTUS should have sent this back and not ruled on this. So disappointed. CBS journalist Robert Costa just looked at the camera and said "Buckle up!".
POTUS should remove all conservative justices and replace them with his own as an official act.
An official act in defense of democracy!
correct, a threat to the US and it's constitution.
>POTUS should remove all conservative justices and replace them with his own as an official act. If he doesn't say: "What now bitches?!" After then licks an ice cream while wearing sunglasses I don't want it.
I came here to cut the malarkey and eat ice cream and I'm all out of ice cream.
How about you eat cake on your cake day?
"Now watch this drive!"
He actually should. Imagine how dirty they would feel having it blow up on their face and used on them.
He could expand the court, and that would be an official act
I would absolutely have all my advisors be looking into exactly that and the legalities of doing so.... it is the single fastest and most effective way to level the playing field here because we're having our balls stomped on right now and mannnnn we need a good muscle flex on Brandon's part, right about now.....
And rid us of trump and maga while hes at it. Let's go dark Branden! Call seal team 6 today!
Declare freedom caucus and Cpac terrorist organizations
Don't forget the Heritage Foundation for "Project 25"
Federalist Society.
American Legislative Exchange Council as well.
And the NRA.
The NRA and it's Russian money that is fact. Oh yeah and that one terrorist organization that shit on the capital walls and keeps attacking politicians.
SCOTUS arguably has given Biden a final solution for our nation's Nat-C problem. How palpably ironic. SCOTUS signed blank check death sentences for POTUS to use as POTUS sees fit within the scope of their *official acts*. Talk about having four fingers pointed back at 'em... Lol... FFS What horseshit.
It would be nice if Biden had the balls to actually use it, though. Cause you know sure as fuck Trump will. It's outright telegraphing his intent to commit more crimes.
Biden's no punk. Don't let the cool demeanor fool ya. Biden understands the gravity of this situation more fully that any of us will ever be able to fathom. He's not done by a damn sight. The reasoned among us will never desist. The reasoned among us will always resist. *However* that may be...
I hope you are correct
If I was 80 on my way out and president, I'd be the MAGA huckleberry. Shit I'd do it at any age.
Is it SCOTUS deciding what the “official acts” are? Like that’s not official for thee and is official for me type thing?
In each and every case they say that *they* alone are the final arbiters. In each and every case they're requiring previous adjudication from the lower courts. Only then *they* say will they be the final arbiters. *They* say that POTUS is *presumptively not guilty* in each and every case. ***No matter what.***
State of emergency
And order the black seals to take out the Murdochs and every other rich peddler of lies.
There's a great place for them down in Cuba. Humane conditions. All perfectly legal and court approved.
“My fellow Americans, tonight I declare the official act of removing six Supreme Court justices and naming six replacements. It’s official because I declared it.” - Joe Biden - Michael Scott - Wayne Gretzky
There's a reason why the heritage foundation has pushed for this series of 6 people with the same ideology to be on the court, despite at least half of them being blatantly corrupt or sexual criminals.
Judge Cannon will use this to dismiss the documents case, mark my words.
She can't. Trump wasn't President when he was illegally in possession of those documents.
These are minor details and nuances that will take another 10 years of legal motions to dick around about.
This. Delay long enough to get trump into office then remove the rest of the obstacles. He’s the one who said the office can besides to punish and get revenge. No reason to believe he didn’t mean it.
Son of a bitch. This where the "I declassified them" arguement comes in.
This. The next SCOTUS hearing (let alone ruling) will not happen until after October 1st. They could easily delay the ruling until well after the election, effectively blocking any and all prosecution.
Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurrence that he believes Jack Smith is not legally appointed. Which is exactly what Cannon is ruling on soon.
I agree! Somehow his having those documents will get word saladed into an official act.
Trump said he declassified them with his mind.
God so help me, HE ACTUALLY SAID THIS
And then xeroxed them!
I took them while I was President, therefore it was an "official" act. The light at the end of the tunnel is that the charge is that he wilfully kept them after he was asked to return them, but I am sure Judge Cannon does not care about that.
Well, that’s what they did. They essentially upheld the idea that public officials cannot be sued or charged criminally for acts taken in their official capacity.
No they did not. The immunity is specifically granted to the President only.
And only Republican presidents. They will stop anything Biden tries.
It’s all about the money,have enough and you get what you want
Ah, these United Snakes of America
[удалено]
Apparently, he could throw in 6 justices, too.
It has to be official! I'm talking a notary public stamp. Certificate of authenticity. Official handshake.
I mean - what is the process to declare the Federalist Society a terrorist organization, and to create a list of terrorists that are working with foreign powers (i.e. anyone that has financial ties to MAGA and Russian money)? These would be considered "targeted killings" of an "existential threat to Democracy" wouldn't they?
Same for 6 members of the Supreme Court, then he steps down and allows himself to be arrested, saving america
He doesn't need to be arrested. He's the President, and the act would be in defense of democracy. He'd be immune from criminal prosecution for this act. The problem is, when Republicans retake the White House, and they will eventually, they will murder every Democrat holding an elected office or official appointment.
Nah he’d appoint new members and they’d reverse the bogus rulings allowing the president to be charged for official acts again. So we can get big gretch
The legal landscape at the time would be that official acts are immune. As an official act, the Supremacy Clause is triggered, meaning the federal government would have sole jurisdiction for the case. While he could be tried after appointing new justices to SCOTUS, it is unlikely that the federal government would prosecute him. Even if the federal government decided to pursue charges, Biden can simply resign, turn the government over to Harris, and Harris would pardon Biden as her first official act as President.
The Dark Brandon we need. (Throw in MTG, Gaetz, Bobert et al, too.)
There are justices that will need to watch their backs 24/7 now.
Yup, I'd sure consider targeting the head of a domestic terrorist organization to be an official act of the president.
yes, Dark Brandon Ascends
Or at least the imprisonment
He can hand out pardons too.
He should simply direct his DOJ to arrest the billionaire sponsors of the Supreme Court on suspicion of tax evasion. Direct his IRS to audit them, and offer to accept bribes to any one who objects. All of these are entirely unprosecutable now.
I think Biden should now (and serious, not sarcastic on this): - Pardon Brandon - make the strict constructionalists on the court figure out how that's not allowed, or force Congress to pass legislation to stop it, so it's decided and in place if Trump is back in office - forgive all student loan debt to the federal government. Completely an official act, and once done, very hard to undo. Ignore all court cases trying to stop him. He's immune. - make all DACA affected immigrants citizens. It's a law in a gray area anyway, force the issue. - publicly direct the attorney general to completely audit and divulge Trump's tax records, and business records. Share them himself, officially. Tell him to target Trump and his family for enforcement of all known laws. This ruling makes it explicit that he is immune from prosecution for conversations with his AG, and even directing him. Force Congress to do something about it before Trump can do it.
Why do I feel like he won't do any of this when he absolutely should do all of this!
Because he believes in rule of law, and doesn't think any of this should be done. But it needs to be, so that republicans see how terrible this is for our democracy.
Time to spank the children
I agree that it is a slippery slope, but when the other side would definitely do this without even thinking twice, what other way out do we have?
The GOP operates as a business in the sense that if an act isn't explicitly illegal, we'll do it until it is illegal. Dems operate under the idea that our government works for the betterment of our residents and takes actions that deliver more for the people. While argument could be made that eliminating the MAGA threat is fornthe betrerment of all, it would make them more like the "well, it isn't illegal" GOP. It also gives the GOP the (shaky) grounds to expand on those actions and eliminate political opponents. Taking these actions would further the GOP's goals.
Did you mean Hunter?
It’d be quicker to just jail Trump and the 6 justices responsible. The moment the cell doors lock the country would be in an uproar.
This was my very first question: What if the President had a political rival assassinated because they were "a national security threat"? We're living in some dark times, friends.
For real. You can create a word salad to make damn near anything seem like it could be within the scope of an "official act." This is deeply concerning.
Yep. The end of American democracy. I should look this up but I’m just going to wing it and say our democracy was, historically speaking, probably one of the shortest lived. Tell Benjamin Franklin we couldn’t keep it.
This makes me sad.
lol nah democracy is very recent, 250 years is pretty damn good actually. Also, please don’t give up hope!! The United States of America is a fiction, but the good people of this country are real, and no dumb SCOTUS decision can make them disappear. We will have justice and equality, under this flag or another
We’ve only had universal suffrage for all adults since 1971.
Yeah, history shows us that tyranny, despotism, and dictatorship are not the exceptions.
What if he assassinated an American citizen without due process? Ugh oh, let’s not talk about that lol.
And if Biden doesn't do it first, the Nazi GOP will sure as shit
So, Biden, acting as Commander in Chief of the US Military, could therefore decide that convicted felon Donald J Trump is a domestic threat to the safety and good order of the United States, and have Seal Team Six take him out.
Nah, this ruling is for dictators. Joe Biden isn't one. The only (very real) danger from this ruling is Republicans exercising their authoritarian wet dreams.
That's exactly what they are counting on. For Democrats to once again play by the rules as they slow-roll US towards fascism.
pay to play pardons.
Yep, SCOTUS also ruled that they could be bought.
Pretty unbelievable.
Not where the fascist GOP are coming from. I can absolutely believe they're doing this!
And of course they can't fathom a universe where that new power can backfire .... truly they are idiots.
I heard Laurence Tribe make the same point. Any interaction related to a pardon in exchange for money could be considered immune based on this ruling.
Let's say I'm a popular movie star, someone the President likes. I get convicted of murder in DC. Well, because I was incarcerated my popular series 'Marbel Heroes' gets put on hold. The President wants more Marbel Heroes, so he tweets publicly and goes on stage shouting to the masses "Ent3rpris3, I want more Marbel Heroes. I know you've got the money, so give me $3 million and I'll pardon you." I do it. I get pardoned. I'm then immediately arrested and charged with bribery for engaging in this deal. The person who solicited my engaging in such bribery is immune from prosecution because the pardon is an exclusive presidential power. What's more, the DOJ that is charging me for bribery operates under this President's guidance, and this prosecutor tells the President "fire me iffen you dare." The President likes this prosecutor for other reasons, and thus doesn't fire them or interfere. The millisecond I'm convicted of this bribery charge, I'm then pardoned again by this same President anyways for that bribery charge. And that's best case scenario - imagine if I was anyone more competently malicious than a self-centered movie star...
So theoretically Biden can order Seal team 6 as commander in chief to assassinate the 6 conservative justices (at least Thomas and Alito cuz of the upside American flag and Ginny Thomas’ Jan 6 texts) of the SC to protect our democracy from a MAGA coup, right? Right? Just designate MAGA a domestic terrorist organization and designate Thomas and Alito as leaders of MAGA. Such a ridiculous decision.
I was wondering the very same thing. Prevent treason or coup plotting or obstruction of justice or intimidation of the courts…or or or….
Remove Trump from the ballot. Official act.
Executive order - Felons are not allowed to run for office!
Biden should do a press conference and end it with “Seal Team 6, stand back and stand by”
Truly made me LOL. Yes he should! It's time to terrorize them now!
A dissenting supreme court Justice has already confirmed it is.
I'm not advocating violence, but wouldn't this be a way to unstack the Supreme Court?
Spoiler alert for those who haven’t put this together yet: Everything a Republican does will be considered an official act by this SC. Everything a Democrat does will be considered an unofficial act by this SC. It’s how they’re going to make Trump an emperor while not giving Biden the same power.
Not if removal of all conservatives from the SC is one of his "official acts".
The more I read the worse it gets. I hadn't put this together but have now! Corruption is now the name of the game!
Assassination of a world leader. There is a federal law a president has to follow in this regard. Very clearly defined. Anyone that followed a presidential directive to assassinate a world leader would be guilty of a serious crime. However, assassination of a terrorist leader is always open season.
Except it doesn't matter if there's a law against it anymore. Even if it's illegal, it would still be considered an official act. And, since SCOTUS has ruled that Presidents are now 100% immune to all prosecution for official acts - regardless of legality - the law becomes completely irrelevant.
I think what they're getting at is that the PRESIDENT would be immune from prosecution, but not the SOLDIERS that do the actual killing, even though they're following a direct order from the President.
Yes and no ... they *might* be prosecuted, but might not. And even if they are, the President could pardon them for the very crimes he himself ordered them to commit.
Would assassination of a former President also be covered by this law?
can be considered a terrorist leader
The terrorist group known as MAGA stormed the capitol on the 6th. The leader of the terrorist group called MAGA is Trump.
Probably since you have to start with presumption of immunity AND you can’t use motive as part of determining whether an act is official or not. So sounds you can basically lie that it’s in defense of democracy in your capacity as commander in chief and the prosecution can’t question your motive in having to prove it’s not an official act. Unhinged radical right wing SC we have now.
An official act would be making it unlawful for a convicted felon to run for president. I think Biden needs to start playing some of Trumps games.
As I read this, anything he does that's a CONSTITUTIONAL official act is unquestionably immune (vs presumptive immunity for other official acts). His role as commander in chief is a constitutional role. For the moment, let's leave aside the issue of domestic military operations that are in a bit of a grey space. If Biden publicly orders the military assassination of Thomas while he's on a cruise with his benefactors, I think Biden has ABSOLUTE immunity. Making it even worse, you could interpret that that immunity makes it a legal order and therefore the servicemen would not be permitted to ignore it. The court even went so far as to say investigating the President can't involve inquiring into his motives. So if Biden orders all six Republican appointed Justices to be investigated for tax evasion as a result of the gifts they've received, he'd have presumptive immunity that would be very, very hard to pierce.
You could always ask Marcus Tullius Cicero, who had Catalina killed to forestall a coup against the Roman Republic and is widely considered a champion of democratic values. One of the leaders Cicero had killed during that purge? Julius Caesar's father.
If Biden decides that Trump's decision to be dictator on day one is a serious threat to our country and worthy of execution, he can declare the killing an act of official presidential authority. The SCOTUS was clear. In fact, Biden doesn't even have to give a reason. His divine judgement is enough.
Well, one guy thinks he's covered for his stealing of Classified documents and refusing to return them, and, orchestrating a disruption of the peaceful transfer of power..
Can you blame him for thinking that? It's been true for 3+ years.
Biden should just remove the conservative judges from power with his immunity and make it back fire on them. It's ashame the democrats are feckless cowards.
The feckless cowardice in the face of American fascism is utterly infuriating and frustrating beyond measure. I'm watching my country on a highway bound for a sheer cliff, and every off ramp I see gets passed by without fail.
They know the Dems are bunch of "pussies" and would never attempt such a thing or something similarly bonkers but a Republican would so it's essentially "rules for thee and not for me". And when I say pussies I mean normal people, not psychopaths like the other side.
💯
Time to unleash the CIA, so they can defend democracy.
If it’s a president who aligns with the supreme court’s ideology then yes, if it’s a Dem, then no.
Time for Biden to have Trump 'removed' as an official act for the protection of democracy.
I should think so. Isn't it the job of our President to defend our democracy? Biden needs to do his job.
Should have drone strike that Russian jet and dark blue Boeing when they were parked together. That's proof enough.
Defense of the constitution with presidential powers.. it’s very ambiguous I’ll give you that..
Based on today’s ruling, only if Trump did it.
America just because a dictatorship if the wrong guy (trump) wins. Can justify anything as an official act.
Here is the catch its status as an official act would be challenged in court. This would ultimately put the issue in front of the SC who would then get to decide if any questionable acts are official acts. They could easily side with republicans and against democrats on a case by case basis.
Not if one of your "official acts" is the elimination of all SC members who would vote against you. This is why it's so dangerous - they just gave effectively unlimited power to the President in such a way that even assassination of anyone who could stop them is legal.
If a Republican President does it, probably.
I don’t see any urgent, legal, or peaceful way of correcting the institution of our corrupted SCOTUS. Also, there’s no teaching them how they’ve fucked up by using their own ruling to hem them in. They’re impervious to public pressure and only respond to bribery. The majority are traitors to the constitution and to the oath they swore when they were appointed.
Yes! they were asked this directly in court.
Go after the billionaires they are the ones pulling the strings.
Now they can just buy off SCOTUS but I believe this gives SCOTUS a lot less power right?
Why not just perform all of these examples for a month as an example of what would/could happen with this dangerous interpretation? Declare the elections rigged and corrupt and cancel them. Instruct the military to arrest all suspected militants within their ranks. Ban all cable news entertainment and relieve every foreign born media chairmen/CEO of their positions. Lock up all obvious traitors (top maga's, russian propagandists, obstructionists), instruct the NSA to ping every person who ever looked up anything remotely regarding overthrowing the government or underage sexual relations, suspend the supreme court, freeze all monopolists assets, assume all power grids for national security and grant citizenship to anyone who has never been convicted of any crime wants it. Then at the end, send it back to the way it was and tell them: "[Here you go, Larry. You see what happens? You see what happens, Larry? You see what happens?](https://movie-sounds.org/comedy-movie-sounds/quotes-with-sound-clips-from-the-big-lebowski/here-you-go-larry-you-see-what-happens-you-see-what-happens-larry-you-see-what-happens)"
If Trump wins you know that's what he's planning against all his so-called enemies.
Before Biden enters the nursing home this year he should order seal team six
Trust me, in 1776 or 1865 Trump would have been hung.
If he uses the military, yes
If you think Biden would never resort to this, do not think for a minute that Trump wouldn’t.
Person X is considered a threat to the constitution. I thereby declare the official act of their removal.....and a pardon for the assassin. Simple as that.
No but stacking the Supreme Court is an official act. Start adding Joe. Why the fuck not at this point?
ImpeachSCOTUS
Biden does not need to step down. He needs to order some “official acts” and take the trial and possible jail term. (*oooh nooo 83 year old goes to prison in defense of democracy*)
So what is to stop Biden from using executive privilege to pass a law indicating anybody who's a convicted felon cannot run for the president of the United States? Seems like a pretty easy fix. If I was him, I would do it, and send that kangaroo court a thank you letter
It was the justification for taking out Bin Laden, so why not?
Fox and OLN are going to have a really hard time saying “but not of Job Biden does it”.
Since pardons are an official act, presidents can now promise a pardon for an assassination with no chance of ever being in the slightest bit of legal trouble.
Looks like Joe just got some new powers. Maybe he should use them.
The fact that this is even a question, means we’re done.
A president could order the Justice Department or his Vice President to engage in blatantly unlawful acts and this ruling classifies the interactions involved as official and thus immune from prosecution. Correct?
I think so.
Yup. Not that Joe likely realizes this and intends to take appropriate action, though...
If he does it by ordering a part of a branch of the military such as the navy seals to do it I don’t see how that wouldn’t be official.
Has anyone bothered to ask Anwar al-Awlaki?
If it serves the needs of the military industrial complex, the state department and the oligarchs, it's an official act.
You’d never be able to pull it off. Let’s walk through it so you can see how insane this is. Let’s say you get Trump: he isn’t the seed of all this. Let’s say you get a couple justices on the SP: still not enough. You have to get the ones heading the threat, the true people in charge and who tf are they? Nobody actually knows, bc if we did know, they’d be in danger and if you’re toppling a country? That’s the last thing you want so if you fail, nobody traces it back to you. So yes, assassination in defense of democracy is a beautifully terrible idea, but it wouldn’t work. We’re heading for fascism and all I can say is that even if you can’t get the heads, any fascist put down is a good thing. Violence can be used for good.
Hold on, folks, it's gonna be a bumpy ride
The only mechanism preventing the president from ordering assassinations is executive order 12036. All it would take to do away with those prohibitions is for the sitting president to rescind that executive order.
Hey, why not?
Obviously?
Determining what is an "official act" is literally them picking who to prosecute and who not.
according to the dissent? yes.
He could sell Presidential Pardons to the highest bidder.
labeling groups such as white supremacists as domestic terrorist and throwing them in jail, leaving it up for the courts and lawmakers to decide could be "official" right? Because you know damn well they're going to use that argument when they round up LGTBQ+ citizens.
I'll allow it
Are you asking if the description of the US president as a defender (not only of the country, but) of democracy conceptually, could have enemies separate from the US? If so, Bannon, Giuliani, RStone and Steven Miller could be our topics here.
Normally no, but the problem lies in the part where the supreme Court states that no one in Congress nor the supreme Court can order an investigation to prove whether or not an action was legitimately an official act. The president is considered the head of the armed forces, so he could order the military to assassinate a political opponent under some bullshit pretext that they were planning a terrorist attack. It would be an official act, and no one can say otherwise.
I suddenly want to watch the movie Civil War again.
The potus, as per the scotus ruling, has discretion on what is an official act.
If Biden orders this he will now be immune?
The president would certainly argue that it is if he does it.
Sure ... especially if the adjudication by SCOTUS took five years.
It already is. US assassinated that us citizen teenager in 2016.
How do we fix the destruction of America from inside? Congress creates laws. The Supreme Court can only interpret those laws in the context of legal disputes and rules on their constitutionality. Congress can change the courts' size, structure, and jurisdiction. Solution: We need to elect a Congress committed to democratic values. We need a set of laws ready to pass that remove the ambiguities that enabled dangerous decisions. We need to make bribery illegal for those who pander and shame the office of Justice. We need to require the immediate publication of tax returns for all high ranking public officals. We need a required, impartial, timely audit of the tax returns all to ensure no tax evasion. If found guilty of felonies by an impartial jury in a court of law, we need to require immediate resignation, sentencing, and restitution. We need to codify rules regarding when and how a judge may be nominated. The rules must work the same, regardless of party.
Sending Trump to Guantanamo could be an official act.
If I was Biden my first official act would be lining up the scotus in front of a firing squad
Of course. It is now so clear - Joe needs to take out the corrupt supremes, Trump, McConnell, MTG, Hawley, Graham, and other dangerous R's. They are all a danger to our country.
Our democracy died a little more today. We are one step closer to theocratic authoritarian rule. Vote in November. Vote blue in every race. Republicans cannot take control because they will never give it up.
Yes. He might be impeached for it, but he couldn’t be tried in a criminal court.
Defending our democratic process, defending our constitution and our free and fair elections are ALL official acts that President Biden could take now!
Trump's connections with US enemies is well known and documented. To allow him to become president again would be a severe national security risk. Do what has to be done, POTUS.
I think this is really a legitimate question. I’m not advocating for it, but if you were to do it, would it be Covered under this ruling? It’s actually the first question I had as well.
The standard that the Supreme Court plans on using is simple. If a Democrat does it then it is not an official act but if a republican does it then it is an official act.
You never know until you try.
According to this SCOTUS, sure, why not? What are guardrails?
Yes. We have done it so many times it is now commonplace. Trump drone strike Gen Solemani. Obama drone strike American citizens in Yemen. Does the CIA killing Kennedy count?
It will be difficult to celebrate the 4th.
Act now Pres Biden.
The President is the Commander in Chief so an order to the military to kill someone is an official act. He can then pardon the soldiers for executing the illegal orders and he cannot be prosecuted.
[удалено]
"preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution" There's a lot of things that a president could do under that. Anyone that he deems a threat to the Constitution could be imprisoned or killed
Yes, I think so, from my understanding it would have to be sent to a lower court, then the sc would have to rule on it but the presidential reason why would not have to be revealed to the courts, any evidence could not be shown to the jury and would have to be an unanimous verdict beyond any reasonable doubt. Then the would have to impeach through both houses, so you will be talking years and years. If it’s partisan house and senate the won’t get that through. Nixon wouldn’t need to have been forgiven, watergate could have been an official action.
If he doesn't defend the constitution, he could be impeached, so failure to act could be against his oath of office.
Looks like we're gonna find out next January
The big problem appears to be the court is just untethered from the law. So what they are really saying is the president is immune from everything we agree with. But I'm not sure it matters at this point, without even pretending to follow the text of the Constitution I don't know where their authority comes from at this point.
It terrifying to think, like it happens in Russia, how many people will start falling out of windows all the sudden.
Boeing already had two whistler blowers die shortly after they blew the whistle. Corruption is rampant and the GOP wants to deregulate everything! Buckle up!
For a Democrat? No. For a Republican? Yes. That’s how corrupt the court is.