Louis Manzo’s Post

The US Supreme Court's recent decision in Trump v. United States has sparked controversy, with critics arguing it undermines the rule of law. Laurence H Tribe highlights the Court's assertion of power, stating "All we need is five votes to impose our view of the Constitution. Period." This move echoes a dangerous precedent of making presidents akin to kings, eroding the fundamental principle that no one is above the law. The Court's ruling, often seen as a "get out of jail free" card for Trump and future presidents, raises concerns about the separation of powers. By encroaching on the exclusive pardon power granted to the President, the Court's actions draw parallels to historical events like Ford's pardon of Nixon. As discussions about the need for constitutional reform gain traction, the call for a constitutional amendment to counteract this decision grows louder. It is evident that the implications of this ruling go beyond the case at hand, prompting a reevaluation of the balance of power and the sanctity of the law in the United States.

#TotalAssaultOnDemocracy ...itself. #USAIndicted.😲🤬🙄 Trump is what #USA, itself, looks like, under indictment. Make no mistake, it is the very soul of America as we've come to know and appreciate it, America's Constitution, Rule of Law and her institutions of governances, system of checks and balance, including those established to defend and preserve #Justice, that are under indictment. U.S. laws must apply to everyone #Equally and #Fairly. NO ONE should be above the law ...NO ONE! Trump has no respect or regards for the rule of law ...whatsoever. The man doesn't stand a chance on honesty and adherence to the rule of law given the world he was introduced and tossed into ...the man is a #BornCriminal. So, the real question is "does America itself respect the rule of law, America's very own laws?" Is America a state of dendrochronological/steeply-tiered laws and legal system ...state of unapologetic and unrepentant Draconianism applied exclusively towards the powerless, impoverished and disenfranchised?🙄 The White House, US Congress, United States Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Department of Justice, United States Attorneys' Offices, The Supreme Court of the United States, Republican National Committee, Democratic National Committee, United Nations, European Union, African Union. https://lnkd.in/gYAD2F-N?

The critics appear to believe that these issues lack salience. Trump did horrible things; there is no argument for protecting what he did; and the “D.C. Circuit’s emphatic, cross-ideological decision should have been summarily affirmed by SCOTUS within days,” as Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern maintained. One thing the critics are probably right about is that the oral argument made it seem very unlikely that Trump would be tried for the Jan. 6 matters before the election. The justices are unlikely to rubber-stamp the case below, especially after Dreeben’s exchange with Chief Justice Roberts about the government defending the judgment below but not its central reasoning. And just about every one of the dozen or so possible rulings discussed at oral argument, including the narrow ones, would require litigation on remand before trial. (Rick Pildes and Marty Lederman describe ways that the Court might rule that would allow the prosecution to proceed quickly; and the special counsel in his brief noted that “even if the Court determines that some form of official-act immunity exists and may apply to some acts alleged in this case, the Court should remand so the district court can address the issues through evidentiary and instructional rulings at trial.”)

CALLING SEAL TEAM 6! What happens when President Trump determines that it is in the national security interest of America to assassinate Chief Justice John Roberts and orders Seal Team 6 to perform the act? Who can challenge that decision? It appears no one because SCOTUS says (undefined) official presidential acts basically cannot be questioned in a court of law. Rule of law no longer exists; rule of a monarch takes its place. An imperial SCOTUS has created an imperial president. Here's another question: How will Judge Aileen Cannon apply this SCOTUS decision in the Trump Classified Documents Case? Will Cannon determine that Trump made the decision to take the documents while he was president and thus cannot be prosecuted for an official act? America may well find itself a has-been country whose national security secrets are sold to the highest bidder should Trump win reelection. https://lnkd.in/eHX5JxJm

Whuz the buzz at the News Café? The case Donald J. Trump v. United States ended with the United States losing. The US Supreme Court has overthrown the US Constitution’s (and the founders’) attempt to establish a country that would be independent of a king and with a balance of power between the three branches of government. The Roberts Court, which has repeatedly weighed decisions against what they believed to be the founders’ intentions, has invented three levels of scrutiny never contemplated by the founders, that provide a president with absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his core constitutional powers; presumptive immunity for other “official acts” unless the government can prove that criminal charges would not intrude on the authority of the Executive Branch; and no immunity for unofficial acts, but leaving it up to the courts — and ultimately, the Supreme Court — to determine whether an act was unofficial. https://lnkd.in/exzdebNi

Check out this article from USA TODAY: 'Tremendous lapse in judgment': 6 takeaways from Georgia judge rebuking DA Fani Willis in Donald Trump case https://lnkd.in/gMbqBujt

Mr Pruitt makes a good post here. He talks about the “slippery slope” as I call it… The slippery slope that separates democracy from autocracy and dictatorship. In a line, democracy and dictatorship lie at opposite ends. Made into a different shape, a circle, the ends of democracy and dictatorship lie very close together. His post addresses the failures of democracy to stop people, lawyers, judges, common people too, from doing something which then slides that event/person one notch closer to autocracy and dictatorship. The article addresses Judge Cannon, and ultimately SCOTUS Justices, who are clearly not unbiased, and are flagrantly and significantly enabling Trump and MAGA to be one, two, three steps closer to dictatorship. Dictatorship start is an insidious slow process: Find the right dictator, Trump. Done. Find the right weak minded, uneducated, energetic bipolar violent public who believe fiction over fact (called MAGA) to follow said leader. Done. Fill courts with like minded MAGA ites that dress in black cloaks and claim to be unbiased but are clearly not: they delay trails, derail trials, accept billionaire money, hang Confederate MAGA flags from their homes. Done. It’s in the media every day. Yet, we do nothing about it. This is the failure of democracy: to hold accountable those that fail democracy and remove them from their hired professions and consider prosecuting them. If this were a football game, the ref would throw a red flag: 15 yard penalty. If this were a hockey game, the ref would call a 5 minute misconduct. But there is no ref here, no one to remove Cannon, remove Thomas, Alito. This is how Democracy fails itself. Its written laws don’t hold water, not as good as the ink on the paper. There is no regulatory, civil or criminal action against the judges, so we all slide slowly towards dictatorship. Democracy has to change to stop enabling these people, and it appears the President would be best seated to perform this function. Executive orders to remove flagrant bias, by any judge of any party, to preserve democracy. It has been too well shown that non action and the will of the people are not enough. Democracy enables itself to consume itself, and we as a people need to better dictate laws and enforcement of those laws to protect democracy. Once America slides into the abyss of dictatorship, the new rules will not allow us to slide back uphill. 🧐

🚨 **Supreme Court Shields U.S. Presidents from Prosecution: European Concerns** The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling grants sitting presidents immunity from criminal prosecution for official actions. This impacts Trump's January 6 Capitol riots case, delaying proceedings to 2025 and potentially allowing him to halt his prosecution if re-elected. From a European perspective, this decision raises serious concerns about the future U.S. president's accountability and potential misuse of power. As allies, we are watching closely and hope for strong checks and balances in American democracy. #EuropeanPerspective #SupremeCourt #PresidentialImmunity #USPolitics #Accountability