A momentous ruling and a Herculean task

View in browser  July 2, 2024       Stephen Collinson and Shelby Rose 'With fear for our democracy' Close-up sketches show Supreme Court justices on the bench for the final day of opinions on Monday, July 1. (Bill Hennessy) "Brilliantly written and wise."   That's Donald Trump's reaction to a momentous Supreme Court decision that could get him off his legal hook, mean he pays no price for trying to steal the 2020 election and that he will view as a passport to absolute power in any second term.   The court ruled that presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts as president but can be tried for conduct that is deemed as private. This did not give Trump everything he wanted in his broad claim of total immunity. But the conservative majority that the former president constructed gave him a lot more than many legal scholars expected. For instance, in his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the president can discuss potential investigations and prosecutions with his attorney general and Justice Department as part of his constitutional duty to make sure the laws are faithfully executed. That means that Trump's request of top officials to seek and prove electoral fraud that didn't exist in 2020 is now out of the reach of special counsel Jack Smith. This would appear to give Trump or another future president huge latitude to use the supposedly independent department for nefarious political ends without fear of prosecution.   In the short term, the Supreme Court left many questions over Trump's behavior in 2020 unanswered, requiring a lower court judge to go through the federal indictment into his election interference to decide what actions constitute official uses of his power and which fall under private conduct. This will be a laborious process subject to a prolonged appeals process, meaning that there is no chance that the case will come to trial before November's election. And if Trump wins, he can appoint an attorney general who will sweep the indictments away. Thus, a future tyrannical president might reasonably assume that they could try to steal a democratic election and get away with it.   Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a fiery dissent, arguing that her colleagues had declared that the "president is now a king above the law" — a scenario antithetical to the founding principle of a nation born from a revolt against unrestrained executive power. She argued that simply by insisting that all his actions consisted of official acts that were part of his constitutional responsibility, a future president could rule with impunity. "Orders the Navy's Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune," Sotomayor wrote.   Roberts rebuked liberals on the court for overreacting. But in seven months, Trump – who already believes that the Constitution gives him absolute power – could be back in the White House House.   As Sotomayor put it: "With fear for our democracy, I dissent." Sign up for Meanwhile in America The world and America Hurricane Beryl devastates Grenada.   The far right makes massive gains in the first round of France's parliamentary elections.   Another airliner hits massive turbulence.   An Eritrean sprinter makes history at the Tour de France.   Meanwhile in America … Another Trump crony goes to prison.   The Supreme Court is back to curbing the government's regulatory power.   Some homeowners are getting a massive mortgage shock.     'I dissent' "Now the American people will have to do what the court should have been willing to do and would not: Americans will have to render a judgment about Donald Trump's behavior," President Joe Biden said in an address to the public from the White House, commenting on the Supreme Court ruling.   "The American people must decide whether Donald Trump's assault on our democracy on January 6 makes him unfit for public office in the highest office of the land. The American people must decide if Trump's embrace of violence to preserve his power is acceptable. Perhaps most importantly, the American people must decide if they want to entrust ... the presidency (to) Donald Trump, now knowing he'll be more emboldened to do whatever he pleases, whenever he wants to do it."   Biden said that the decision means there are now "virtually no limits on what the president can do."   "This a fundamentally new principle – and it's a dangerous precedent, because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law," he warned.   "I concur with Justice Sotomayor's dissent today. Here's what she said – she said, 'In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law. With fear for our democracy, I dissent,' end of quote. So should the American people dissent. I dissent," he said.   The last line of defense is looking shaky Only one politically wounded old man now stands between the United States and a new president who seems sure to interpret the Supreme Court rulings as a passport to autocracy.   Joe Biden, 81, is still struggling to overcome his disastrous debate performance as Democrats whisper behind the scenes about whether he should fold his reelection race at this late stage in favor of a younger, more vigorous candidate.   In one sense, the conservative majority's bombshell ruling only underscored the rationale of Biden's campaign — that Trump is a menacing danger to democracy and America's core values and should not be let back in the Oval Office.   But it also intensified debate over whether Biden is now too cognitively impaired to win the election.   Biden and his family gathered at Camp David for a previously planned retreat on Sunday and Monday. The signals coming from the presidential retreat are that he's determined to stay in the race. His campaign spent the weekend attacking liberal journalists and media commentators who broke ranks and said it's time for him to abandon his reelection bid. So far, the Democratic Party's grandees are publicly sticking with the president, arguing that a debate in which he was incoherent and confused was just a bad night. But there is increasing despair in the ranks, with many Democrats starting to reconcile themselves to the growing possibility that Biden could lose to Trump in November and cost his party Congress.   Watch for two things now. If polling expected in the coming days shows a cratering of the president's already fragile standing in swing states that will decide the election, pressure for him to step aside will grow. Secondly, Biden is under extreme pressure to crank up his so far anemic pace of campaigning. But any new on-camera freezes, trip-ups or errors that can be put down to age may make his position untenable.   The Biden campaign has long said that when he finally got on stage with Trump the contrast between them would turn the race in his favor. But his appalling debate performance destroyed the comparison in front of 50 million viewers.   Biden is asking voters to send him back to the White House despite overwhelming numbers of them concluding he's too old. It's going to be a Herculean task to convince them he's fit to serve until he's 86. Thanks for reading.   On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden is expected to make remarks about Hurricane Beryl. First lady Jill Biden travels to Pennsylvania and Michigan for campaign events. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is in Kazakhstan for a state visit. The July Palio di Siena horse race takes place in Italy.  What did you think of today's email? 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