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Should Presidents have absolute immunity for life?  

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  1. 1. Should Presidents have absolute immunity for life?

    • Yes
      2
    • No
      17


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Posted (edited)
On 4/26/2024 at 10:11 AM, ChiGoose said:

textualism unless the text doesn't say what they want it to say

As one Justice asked: where in the constitution does it say that the President shall have lifetime immunity for criminal acts committed while he was President?

The answer is: nowhere. There is absolutely nothing in the constitution that accords former presidents immunity from criminal prosecution. The Supreme Court is just making it up.

So what about the textualist's backup argument? That we should look to history of the interpretation of the constitution?

Well, no help there. Gerald Ford preemptively pardoned Nixon because there was no one who even thought that Nixon would have lifetime immunity for any involvement in criminal activity while he was president. 

So they are making it up. How is this different from the "liberal justices just made up the right to privacy (and, in turn, abortion) which is found nowhere in the constitution?" Answer: it isn't.

This article states the argument in greater detail:

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/27/supreme-court-trump-immunity-00154744

 

Read the conclusion before you snap back "oh, so I guess you're fine with Dobbs."

No, I'm not. The article (and I) just think that the idea that Supreme Court justices are just some kind of rabbinical interpreters of the words of the constitution without imposing their own ideas of what is necessary for what they've called "ordered liberty" is nonsense. There is no such thing, and this case proves it.

Edited by The Frankish Reich
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  • 1 month later...
Posted

 

 

Holder worried Supreme Court will come
to ‘dangerous’ conclusion on Trump immunity

The Hill, by Tara Suter

 

Former Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday he is concerned that the Supreme Court will come to a “dangerous” conclusion on former President Trump’s claim of presidential immunity, partly because it has taken time for the justices to reveal their decision. Trump has made the immunity claim on charges related to the federal cases he faces on storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and related to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

 

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4730568-eric-holder-concerned-trump-immunity/

 

 

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