cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17175186
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that American presidents have “absolute immunity” from prosecution for any “official acts” they take while in office. For President Joe Biden, this should be great news. Suddenly a host of previously unthinkable options have opened up to him: He could dispatch Seal Team 6 to Mar-A-Lago with orders to neutralize the “primary threat to freedom and democracy” in the United States. He could issue an edict that all digital or physical evidence of his debate performance last week be destroyed. Or he could just use this chilling partisan decision, the latest 6-3 ruling in a term that was characterized by a staggering number of them, as an opportunity to finally embrace the movement to reform the Supreme Court.
But Biden is not planning to do any of that. Shortly after the Supreme Court delivered its decision in Trump v. The United States, the Biden campaign held a press call with surrogates, including Harry Dunn, a Capitol police officer who was on duty the day Trump supporters stormed the building on Jan. 6; Reps. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas); and deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks.
Their message was simple: It’s terrifying to contemplate what Donald Trump might do with these powers if he’s reelected.
“We have to do everything in our power to stop him,” Fulks said.
Everything, that is, except take material action to rein in the increasingly lawless and openly right-wing Supreme Court.
Shit, there would be every opportunity now to make a sweep along all of the prominent Project 2025 supporters, and then hold a speech about the way they threatened democracy, and that made it an important official act - then step down and let two new candidates duke it out. Would it destabilise the system? Sure, but that will be coming anyway, but this would destabilise the system from a position of strength, which liberals seem to be deathly afraid of. All they can do is lament the days of civility and “reason”, without realising those eroded not because of some sort of immaterial stupidity, but because of economic and material factors they themselves helped along in the past.