AlterNet: How Trump's 'controversial agenda' could put him on a 'collision course' with SCOTUS: report

[Dennis Donovan]

AlterNet - How Trump’s 'controversial agenda' could put him on a 'collision course' with SCOTUS: report



Many critics of President-elect Donald Trump, from law professor/former federal prosecutor Kimberly Wehle to progressive legal expert Elie Mystal, have vehemently attacked the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 GOP supermajority for being overly favorable to him. Wehle and Mystal were especially critical of the High Court's ruling in Trump v. the United States, which said that presidents enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution for "official" acts but not for "unofficial" acts.

That decision, according to Wehle and Mystal, is a dangerous recipe for authoritarianism.

But Washington Post legal reporters Justin Jouvenal and Ann E. Marimow, in an article published on November 29, stress that the Roberts Court ruled against Trump many times during his first term as president — and could act as a "check" after he begins his second term on January 20, 2025.

"Donald Trump's greatest legacy is arguably the conservative supermajority he created on the Supreme Court," Jouvenal and Marimow explain. "His second term could put him on a collision course with the institution he reshaped. With Republican allies controlling the House and Senate, the Supreme Court could emerge as the most likely check on the president-elect's promise to assert sweeping powers — in ways that could test the boundaries of the law and the Constitution."

The legal journalists go on to cite some of the policies that could result in aggressive "legal challenges" during Trump's second term.

"If pursued, Trump's controversial agenda to deport undocumented immigrants en masse, end birthright citizenship, impose extensive tariffs, fire or relocate thousands of federal workers and abolish the Department of Education would surely unleash a flood of legal challenges," Jouvenal and Marimow note. "Trump has lost at the Supreme Court more than any other modern president, according to one study, and several recent High Court rulings that curbed the power of regulatory agencies could hem in his agenda."

/snip

[comradebillyboy]

1. Trump will simply trot out the Andrew Jackson

defense saying Chief Justice "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"

Trump will set some new standards by ignoring SC decisions he doesn't like. And the SC will be able to do nothing in the face of his defiance.

[Hotler]

2. He'll threaten them all. I'm thnking he is already threatening people with arrest as political enemy.

Some Dems have been quick to kiss the ring and announce they would show up for the inauguration.

[milestogo]

5. But he doesn't have absolute power.

If he pushes back against people who actually do have power, they're going to push back.

[Takket]

3. give me a damn break, SCOTUS?

The SCOTUS that affirmed immunity in a case that ANY legal scholar said was nothing more than an absurd legal tactic to stall drumpf's prosecution? THAT SCOTUS?????????? SCOTUS might not realize it yet but they kneecapped THEIR OWN POWER with the ruling. The restricted the evidence that can be used, they put no guardrails up for "official acts" for judges to use. drumpf is stacking his cabinet with people he can trust to answer only to him, and ignore anything SCOTUS says, and with the pardon power backed up by the immunity ruling, they can "official act" and "pardon" ANYTHING they want to do and even if you put 9 Ruth Bader Ginsbergs on the court RIGHT NOW, SCOTUS can't do FUCKING SHIT because of their OWN RULING.

They crisis is going to come when SCOTUS actually gets to the point where Roberts, the 3 liberal justices, and one of the fascists actually goes "whoa, that's too far, don't do that" and drumpf's people say "fuck you." That's coming. Democracy is on its death bed right now. And that will be the moment the plug gets pulled. I'm not expecting drumpf to back down.

[doc03]

4. John Wayne quote "That will be the day"

[GoreWon2000]

6. SCOTUS will rubberstamp Trump

The make-up of the SCOTUS during Trump's first term wasn't what it is now. The current, radical, extremist repug majority will give Trump everything he wants. The current SCOTUS will continue to follow in the footsteps of the repug Rehnquist 5's rubberstamping of the Bush brothers all out assault on American democracy in Florida in 2000.
I'm also not at all surprised that the Washington Post is again trying to sanitize the anti-democracy behavior of a radical repug SCOTUS majority. They did the same in 2000 when the repug Rehnquist 5 stopped the legal Florida vote count and appointed W to the White House.

[kimbutgar]

7. I hope the SC 6 realizes if they give orange Hitler 2.0 no barriers they will lose their power as the third branch

And become moot.

The Senate and House better think twice to bow down to the orange monster and lose their power also!