Supreme Court has already granted Trump practical immunity

June 20, 2024

There is a 50% chance that the Supreme Court will issue its decision on Trump's presidential immunity defense in the next forty-eight hours. It doesn’t matter what the Court decides. It has already granted Trump the remedy he sought—practical immunity from the two federal cases filed by special counsel Jack Smith.

The Court’s delay in granting review, scheduling argument, and issuing its opinion effectively granted Trump six months of immunity from prosecution when it mattered most—during the 2024 presidential election. It is now too late for Jack Smith to obtain a jury verdict before November 5, 2024—exactly the result Trump desired.

It could have been otherwise. The Supreme Court had multiple opportunities to expedite its review of Trump's defense. But at each pivotal moment, the Court opted for delay. It opted for delay at the following decision points:

• When Jack Smith asked the Court to grant immediate and direct review of Judge Chutkan’s decision on 12/1/23, skipping over the DC Court of Appeals by granting “certiorari before judgment.” The Court denied Jack Smith request to expedite the appeal (12/22/23).

• When the Supreme Court granted review of the DC Court of Appeals affirmance of Judge Chutkan’s decision rather than issuing a summary affirmance by adopting the DC Circuit’s opinion in whole. (2/28/2024)

• When it granted review of the DC Court of Appeals affirmance of Judge Chutkan’s decision but placed it on the last day of argument during the 2023-2024 term, i.e., April 24, 2024.

• When it delayed from the hearing on April 24, 2024, until today (at least) to issue an opinion on a matter of urgent, national importance—a delay of at least 57 days.

By contrast, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in 26 days (2/8/24 to 3/4/24) to allow Trump on the Colorado primary ballot despite the disqualification clause of the 14th Amendment. In an earlier era, the Burger Court took less than three weeks to reject President Nixon’s claim of presidential immunity against a criminal subpoena for his tapes of Oval Office conversations.

All told, the Supreme Court granted Trump six months of delay. In doing so, the Court has broken faith with the American people and the Constitution. I fervently hope that the Court unanimously upholds the opinions of Judge Chutkan and the DC Circuit by making clear that his presidential immunity defense on the facts alleged is baseless. But even if it does so, it will hand Trump a corrupt victory in which the Court’s reactionary majority is a co-conspirator.

Of course, any limited recognition of presidential immunity or requirement of further fact-finding will be evidence additional evidence of bad faith by a court that has debased itself in service of the most anti-democratic former president in our nation’s history.

We find ourselves bracing once again for a body blow by the Court. It doesn’t have to be like this. It shouldn’t be like this. We need our party leaders—starting with President Biden—to make Supreme Court reform a top priority. Until they do, the rights of women, Black voters, LGBTQ people, and every American who depends on the government to provide safe schools, workplaces, and public spaces are at risk. What more evidence do we need that the Court’s reactionary majority is acting in a corrupt fashion to advance the partisan interests of Donald Trump?

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Signs of creeping fascism

Democrats are frequently dismissed for exaggerating the threat of a second Trump term. But several reports over the last few days make clear what Trump and his MAGA extremists want for all Americans—a white Christian nationalist society in which dissent is prohibited.

In noting these developments, my point is not to alarm people. Rather, it is to identify the stakes of this election. We can prevent every threat identified below; indeed, many of them are performative threats that nonetheless provide insights into the America that MAGA extremists want to create:

• Louisiana enacted a bill that requires every classroom include a copy of the Ten Commandments. Imposing a state-sanctioned religion on all citizens violates the First Amendment. See CNN, Louisiana classrooms now required by law to display the Ten Commandments.

• Trump has promised to deny funds to any school that requires mandatory vaccines. Childhood vaccines against 16 diseases have saved hundreds of thousands of lives over the last century. Defunding schools that require vaccines will cause outbreaks of diseases that have been effectively eliminated. See HuffPo, Trump Makes Bizarre Threat About Schools And Vaccine Mandates.

• Trump says that business leaders who do not support him should be fired. NBC News, Trump says business executives should be 'fired for incompetence' if they don't support him.

• Trump trashed Fox News for having the temerity to interview a guest—former Speaker Paul Ryan—who was critical of the former president. Trump said, “Nobody can ever trust Fox News, and I am one of them.” MSN, Trump Loses It At Fox News, Says No One Can Trust It.

• Trump said that President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plans are “stunts” that will be “rebuked” if Trump is elected. See The Independent, Trump calls Biden’s student loan forgiveness a ‘vile’ publicity stunt.

• Trump recently told the Danbury Institute that, if elected, “These are going to be your years because you’re going to make a comeback like just about no other group . . . And I’ll be with you side by side.” The Danbury Institute promotes fetal personhood, opposing abortion from “the moment of conception” (a position that would effectively ban IVF). See Missouri Independent, Trump says he’ll work ‘side by side’ with group that wants abortion ‘eradicated.

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Thirty falsehoods by Trump in a single campaign speech

Trump gave a campaign speech in Racine, Wisconsin on Tuesday. CNN fact-checked Trump's speech and found thirty lies. See video embedded at Harry Sisson on Twitter. Almost everything Trump says is a lie. Will the moderators at the upcoming debate challenge Trump's lies? Or will they simply give him a platform to spew lies??

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The Trump double standard strikes again

In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama was on the defensive about comments made by his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, that seemingly blamed the US for inviting the September 11 attacks. Candidate Obama gave a nationally televised speech in which he distanced himself from Wright’s remarks. But Obama carried his remarks further, addressing the role of race in US politics. See NPR (3/18/2008), Transcript: Barack Obama's Speech on Race : NPR. Obama’s speech was titled “A More Perfect Union.”

On Wednesday, Trump's so-called “spiritual advisor” Pastor Robert Morris resigned from Gateway Church—a mega-church in Southlake, Texas. Morris served on Trump's evangelical executive advisory board for his 2016 campaign. Morris was also prominently featured at Trump campaign events in 2020.

Morris resigned because of allegations that he molested a 12-year-old girl “in the 1980s” when Morris was an ordained pastor. See NBC News, Pastor Robert Morris resigns from Gateway Church after child sex abuse allegation.

To date, Trump has not commented on the conduct of his former “spiritual advisor,” nor has any reporter asked Trump to do so.

So, when the spiritual advisor of a Black candidate is accused of inappropriate comments, the Black candidate is required to give a nationally televised speech to distance himself from the comments of his spiritual advisor. When Trump's former spiritual advisor resigns over allegations of child molestation, no one seems to care.

Really? Is this what Trump has done to us? Come on members of the media! At least ask Trump to comment on the matter!

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Concluding Thoughts

For more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slave owners kept the news of the proclamation from the nearly 250,000 enslaved persons in Texas. On June 19, 1865, a Union officer informed Texans that President Lincoln had issued an order proclaiming that “all slaves are free.”  Texas officials fought the order in every way they could. That resistance continues through today. See The Guardian (10/13/2023), Texas voting map discriminates against Black and Latino residents, judge rules.

Progress has been slow, fitful, and hard-won. In 1865, nearly 30% of Texas’ population was Black. More than a century and a half later, Texas has yet to elect a Black US Senator. In November, Texas may elect its first Black citizen to the U.S. Senate: Colin Allred.

There can be no more fitting celebration of the spirit of the Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth than Colin Allred entering the US Senate as the eighth Black American to be popularly elected to that body since Reconstruction. It is hard to believe that progress has been so slow. But electing Colin Allred would be another positive step toward a more perfect union.

Talk to you tomorrow!