The Daily Populous Saturday April 27th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by newrepublic.com and submitted by marji80

This is catastrophic in so many ways. The first is that it increases the already high chances that the United States ends up with a dictator who will attempt to rapidly disassemble democracy in pursuit of becoming President for Life. It simultaneously increases the chances that yes, he will go ahead and violate the civil and human rights of political opponents and classes of people he calls Communists, Marxists, and fascists. People forget that the first German concentration camp (Dachau) was built in 1933 to hold members of the Communist and Social Democratic Parties, and Trump has made it clear that he’s building enough camps to process a minimum of 11 million people (migrants, at least for starters).

The conservatives on the Supreme Court have also exposed their hubris, willful ignorance, and foolishness to the entire world in stark terms, and it will cost them and the nation dearly in the long run. They somehow presume that if Trump is elected and goes full dictator, that the power of the court, and their reputation, will save them. The truth is, Trump’s relationships with everyone he meets are completely transactional. If the court ever stops being useful to him, he will terminate it with prejudice if he thinks he can get away with it, and this court is doing everything it can to make him think he can get away with it.

These justices’ foolishness lies in their lack of foresight as to what happens if Trump wins in 2024. In the justice’s efforts to ensure that they are the most powerful branch of government, they are about to make it the weakest. They are creating a win-win situation for Trump, and a lose-lose for themselves. When Trump is president again, he is likely to believe that he has the option of “removing” any member of the Supreme Court who defies him. As long as the court doesn’t rule against him, they’re fine. From the justices’ perspective, they either end up neutered lap dogs of a despot, who do whatever they’re told out of fear, or they defy him and end up somewhere … unpleasant (at best). Taking a dirt nap at worst. After all, if Trump can rub out a political opponent, can’t he do the same to an uncooperative jurist?

SWtoNWmom on April 27th, 2024 at 03:06 UTC »

Ok so if Joe Biden ordered the disappearing of every registered Republican - would that be legal now?

SadBadPuppyDad on April 27th, 2024 at 02:16 UTC »

The founders did not suffer from a lack of ideas. As such they were a quarrelsome lot. However, if there is one thing around which they could find an accord, it was that one person, when entrusted with power, not be above the reach of accountability by the people. "Of the people, by the people...". I think they were pretty clear about that.

The current supreme court ruling members (I describe it that way because this court's majority has demonstrated themselves to be incapable of objectivity) have indicated that they will undermine the very principle of our founding: self determination. They would suggest there can never be accountability under law for anyone capable of being elected to the office of president. That is fascism.

jeffinRTP on April 27th, 2024 at 01:56 UTC »

Justice Sonia Sotomayor should have asked trumps lawyer if President Biden ordered the arrest and execution of conservative justices on the court because he doesn't believe they would follow and obey the constitution would that be an official act?