Notes on Trump v. United States

“It is folly to think that the triumph of evil could ever be a winning side, in the sense of anyone's gaining anything by it.” – James Blish

This past Fourth I celebrated the fight to restore democracy, the fight to end the imperial presidency, and the hope of a second reconstruction.

The Court's right wing, or at least their patrons, knows that Trump has already committed serious crimes, and that is why they have ruled in favor of broad presidential immunity. One immediate consequence of the Trump immunity decision is that the Trump campaign no longer has to spend money on Trump's legal defense.

Under Trump v. US, a President will be able to loot the treasury with impunity. Trump has also been immunized against treason, which he has likely committed. Just as the biggest beneficiaries of Citizens United have been wealthy foreign governments, the biggest beneficiary here may well be Russia. Biden is now more or less in the position of Lincoln. I hope he rises to the occasion. We now have a constitutional crisis which will not be resolved by the Courts. We need a Second Reconstruction and Second Reconstruction constitutional amendments. But first, we have to get through this constitutional crisis.

Presidential immunity is mostly of value to a president who commits crimes. The rule of law cannot be restored by breaking the law. We are now operating in a space where there is no law and, assuming we win, we will have to put everything back together when we are done, a second reconstruction.

John Roberts' place in history is secure. I think I'll start calling him Roger Taney II.