185
submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

Donald Trump opposes the special counsel’s request for the Supreme Court to decide right now whether he has any immunity from federal prosecution for alleged crimes he committed while in office, lawyers for the former president told the justices in court papers Wednesday.

Special counsel Jack Smith asked the high court last week to review a lower-court ruling that Trump, as a former president, is not immune from the election subversion criminal case. Smith in his appeal to the justices asked them to take the rare step of reviewing the issue before a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, weighs in.

But Trump, whose legal strategy in the case so far has largely revolved around attempts to delay the proceedings, told the justices that Smith should not be able to leapfrog over the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to resolve the critical issue.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

This is a lose-lose. If this is shot down, it’s just another case of presidents (and former presidents) being above the law. If this goes through, the republican states will use it against democratic candidates.

edit: If you don't think republican states would abuse this, let me remind you that republicans are still trying to impeach Biden just to retaliate for the Trump impeachments.

[-] citrusface@lemmy.world 28 points 10 months ago

Trump isnt the president dawg.

[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

What the heck is Lemmy.zip (asking you in reference to the guy you're rebutting, I've come across nothing but schizos from this particular instance...

[-] citrusface@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Could be self hosted - be my guess.

[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Its terrifying LOL. I haven't run into a single reasonable person under their banner

[-] citrusface@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Looks like I'll be doing a good old blockerino! Thanks for the heads up.

Edit - oh God I just visited, what a shit hole

[-] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Can I have the link please?

Also ya. And it literally sounds like those virus sites we were warned about. Zip is a file type so its super fucking weird right out the gate

[-] citrusface@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

I just clicked the link you posted in my previous comment and it took me to the home page for that, then look at local.

However, may have misspoke, upon further digging, it looks pretty mundane. When I visited it was showing me other instances and there were some things about Epstein and the war in Gaza and the Ukraine. I made an unfair judgement.

So. Make that what you will. There be crazy folk everywhere tho. Not to say op is crazy, just that I disagree with their take on this.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago

Pedantic and besides the point. No one is saying Trump is the president

[-] xhieron@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Lol. A bunch of folks, including Donald Trump, are saying exactly that. It's part of the reason we're even having this conversation.

[-] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

It’s part of the reason we’re even having this conversation. Technically, not with this one. This claim isn't about Trump currently being the President. It's about whether the fact he was President at the time made a difference, and whether his actions that would otherwise be in clear violation of the law, are protected by that fact.

Effectively he's asking the Supreme Court to decide whether any illegal actions a President takes while in office cannot be prosecuted after the fact. They could do anything they want while in office, and as long as Congress doesn't decide to Impeach and remove them from office, it's all okay. Meaning the President would effectively be above the law.

THAT'S why Trump doesn't want them to even think about it, as partisan as the court is, they clearly cannot rule that way. A big part of the Republican messaging is being tough on crime and no one is immune, while making sure those with money are. That means keeping up some appearances.

However, this is the chance for him to be removed from the board, and by a Court that is clearly not aligned with is political opponent. He can't just say it's the Biden DOJ going after him when it's a clear Republican majority Supreme Court making the decision. If they rule he's not immune, he gets the full federal charge dicking he is desperately trying to avoid, and he gets to sit in a jail cell complaining to only his most extreme sycophants while the rest of the country moves on to other politicians. The MAGAts will find someone new to latch onto instead, just like they've always done, but the guy that constantly says the quiet part out loud without gaining any sort of advantage, fucking up plans the party has been laying for over 40 years gets removed from play. The party can go back to laying their plans in the shadows without a dumbass talking about them all the time trying to brag about something he knows.

[-] ripcord@kbin.social 3 points 10 months ago

That means keeping up some appearances.

Oh my, it absolutely does not. That went 100% out the window 5 years ago. Republicans absolutely do not live in any part of that world anymore

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 2 points 10 months ago

You're just going to take everything I type literally huh. 1) I'm not saying Trump is the president and 2) the court decision is a lose-lose. Glad I could clear that up for you

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 7 points 10 months ago

If you can’t say what you mean, say nothing at all.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago

People being willfully obtuse just to score points in an argument is a bit pathetic. And I mean that.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

repeat that into a mirror, and we may all accomplish something today.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago
[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

People being willfully obtuse just to score points in an argument is a bit pathetic. And I mean that.

guess you didn’t really mean this, then…

if you can’t say what you mean, say nothing at all.

[-] Blackbeard@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago

Why should a court of law give a shit what Republicans will or won't do in retaliation for some perceived sleight?

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 5 points 10 months ago

Maybe they shouldn't, but it's still a tough situation politically.

[-] Blackbeard@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago

Maybe they shouldn't?! You realize you're arguing for the law to be applied depending on who it benefits politically, don't you?

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago

You're strawmanning me pretty hard (hopefully unintentionally). I'm not arguing for the courts to do anything; my point was that there will be negative consequences no matter what they do.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Maybe they shouldn’t 

Your comment was literally arguing exactly that.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago

I'm going to be overly verbose with you since you appreciate specificity so much.

Edward Teach's comment:

Why should a court of law give a shit what Republicans will or won’t do in retaliation for some perceived sleight?

Edward is implying that the court should ignore the political repercussions of their decision (i.e., "why should [they] care").

My response:

Maybe they shouldn’t, but it’s still a tough situation politically.

I am here acknowledging the salience of his point while also being intentionally non-committal. ("Maybe they shouldn't [care about the consequences]".) Maybe Edward is right that the supreme court should ignore the political fallout. I then return to my original point that it is a tough situation either way.

Edward Teach's comment:

Maybe they shouldn’t?! You realize you’re arguing for the law to be applied depending on who it benefits politically, don’t you?

Here he is straw manning me because he read too much into my original comment. I never argued that the court should or shouldn't do anything, only that there will be negative consequences either way. Edward assumed that the purpose behind my comment was to say the supreme court should rule in favor of Trump. This is not the case.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Maybe they shouldn’t

☝️this is you arguing whether the court should or shouldn’t do something.

you can be verbose or succinct; it changes nothing other than the time amount of you waste.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 2 points 10 months ago

Now you're just repeating yourself. You didn't even read the comment, did you? You're right, this is a waste of time.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

Now you’re just repeating yourself.

because I’m right

You didn’t even read the comment, did you?

I did. the part of my comment you didn’t read is that it changes nothing.

You’re right, this is a waste of time.

that’s why I said it

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Only if the Supreme Court, whose job it is to actually determine what is lawful according US Constitution (and then other federal law and precedent) decide they are not going to do their jobs anymore.

The whole reason Supreme Court justices have appointment for life is so that their decisions can't be used against them by those in power to punish for a ruling those in power don't like. Supremes have almost "plot armor" in this regard. What do they have to fear from making a ruling that republicans don't like?

[-] HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago

Their billionaire sugar daddies will dump them?

[-] MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

Allowing our justice system to operate based on perceived political consequences seems like a terrible idea. Republicans will continue to be seditious trash regardless, holding one of them accountable for crimes they committed won't change that. Their moves should not even factor into what the justice department/courts does or doesn't do.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 6 points 10 months ago

I think people are assuming that I'm recommending a course of action when my entire point is that either scenario will have negative consequences. That being said, I agree with everything you said here.

[-] ripcord@kbin.social 2 points 10 months ago

If not that, then people are confused about what your point was other than to generally be negative.

[-] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Democrats' guiding principle is "but what might Republicans do?" Context doesn't change that.

[-] ripcord@kbin.social 8 points 10 months ago

the republican states will use it against democratic candidates.

I don't see this as a special concern. They're going to do this no matter what.

[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

If this goes through, the republican states will use it against democratic candidates.

This has nothing to do with the state cases, this is Federal & dealing with the Insurrection.

If a democratic former president incites an Insurrection &/or steals top secret documents & gives them to our enemies I hope they get prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law as well.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago

Isn't this assuming the republicans are operating in good faith? They aren't. They care more about what they can get away with than whether it's justified. I'm sure republican states could find other reasons to take Biden off of the ballet come the next election. There seem to be a lot more legal grey areas than we were aware of. (For example, before January 6th, who knew that the vice president could potentially steal an election?)

[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I’m sure republican states could find other reasons to take Biden off of the ballet come the next election.

Treason & Insurrection are literally the only way a US citizen over the age of 35 can be removed from a federal ballot in the USA.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago

I wouldn't put it past them to label some Hunter Biden conspiracy theory bs "treason".

That said, I concede the point that it may not be as easy as I was implying. Or at least I hope its not that easy. Our democracy is looking fragile these days.

[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 2 points 10 months ago

I wouldn’t put it past them to label some Hunter Biden conspiracy theory bs “treason”.

This is the exact reason why Treason is defined in the Constitution & has a very, very narrow definition.

[-] balderdash9@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 months ago

I'm willing to be proven wrong since I'm no expert on constitutional law, but treason is constituted by: "levying War against [the United States], or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." You're right that the first part is very specific, but that second part about helping the enemies of the republic could be abused.

[-] HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social 7 points 10 months ago

So what you're saying is, they'll be insufferable assholes no matter what we do, and we should see to it that a criminal repays society for his crimes.

this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
185 points (100.0% liked)

politics

19087 readers
3300 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS