3000ad / Depositphotos.com
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which is mostly right on the law, didn’t go far enough.
I had hoped for a broad, sweeping ruling that would strike down lawfare cases. I hoped for language that said courts should look with skepticism upon cases where one of the actors is a candidate for high office that use novel political theories. This is not such a big leap as it may seem; our Department of Justice already has internal rules against indictments within an election cycle and filing criminal charges too close to an election.
Surely the Court knows that lawfare, as currently practiced, is harmful to the nation. We defeat our political opponents at the ballot box, not by taking them to court.
The 6-3 Supreme Court ruling says that Presidents do have immunity for official acts while in office. But the court says that lower courts will decide which acts are official and which aren’t. So in sending the case back to the D.C. Court of appeals, Trump will now argue that as the nation’s chief executive, that assuring the legitimacy of federal elections is an official act. The D.C. Court – packed with democrat judges – will likely reject that argument. Someday the Supreme Court will be called on again to define what are and aren’t official acts.
Sonya Sotomayor wrote a breathy, panicked dissent. She hypothesized that a president could call in Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political opponent, and then could argue that he’s taking official action as the nation’s Commander in Chief. Well, not true. Aside from a myriad of laws against murder and defining the proper use of military power, there is still impeachment. A president can still be removed from office if the Congress decides his actions are politically objectionable. Donald Trump was even impeached because a translator on his phone call to Ukraine objected to his foreign policy.
The federal cases against Donald Trump are unlikely to come to trial before Election Day. The Supreme Court has given Trump new legal arguments, that he was acting in his official capacity as President. But the high court has not shut down lawfare, which, right now, is a slow-dripping poison that’s entering into our politics.
Chris Conley
Comments