Pearl River There is little question that being President of the United States is either the most powerful political position in the world today, or so close to it that it would make any argument pretty trivial. There are some, President-Elect Trump first among any others, who believe there are virtually no limits to the power of that office, which is why so many pundits and others have raised the specter of autocracy, as they look at the coming four years. There’s no question that our organizations and ourselves are the only real protection against that possibility, but maybe there’s a reed of hope still in other quarters as well.
Intoxicated by his Supreme Court victory extending additional immunity to the president which absolved Trump for his role as a stuff-stirrer on January 6th, he and his lawyers have been a force unleashed in trying to bend and break any legal restraints on his activity and the many court decisions and investigations that he has triggered. There’s no question that we’re right to worry. This whole thing about the “balance of powers” has been tilted off kilter so far that it’s little guarantee. The claims about the “rule of law,” have seemed more like spin and marketing than something real for quite a while, as well.
Nonetheless, in a 5-4 decision with the liberal minority joined by Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice Roberts, the Supreme Court wouldn’t let Trump get out being sentenced for his more 30 convictions in a New York court in the Stormy Daniels case. He will be inaugurated as the President of the United States as a convicted felon. He won’t get jail time, obviously, don’t get ahead of yourselves in thinking that justice is equal. This is about there being some justice still. The important thing is that he couldn’t get away with it, no matter how hard he tried. Maybe there’s hope for the future in this decision? We’ll see.
The Appeals Court out of Atlanta has also given the greenlight to a release of the investigative report from Special Counsel Jack Smith on Trump as well in a couple of days. There’s still some other lower court hoo-ha, but even though Trump’s election will close down Smith’s work, at least the public will know the results of what their tax dollars paid for in going deep and hard on these questions.
In Chief Justice Roberts’ annual report on the state of the judiciary, he seemed disturbed about the increased threats against judges and to recognize the diminished respect and status of the judiciary among the American public now. He bears huge responsibility for this current disapproval of the court. The public sees the court has increasingly partisan, because it has been so. The pretzel twists of the court to deal with ethics, despite one shoe after another dropping about Justice Thomas’ trips along with Justice Alito’s flags and ex-parte conversations with Trump himself. Those guys don’t even know how to spell “recusal.”
Roberts can’t believe this circus can keep going on without it hurting the court’s reputation. I wouldn’t count on it too much, but maybe he’s going to decide to actually provide some balance under the rule of law finally. We’re going to need it!