- Trump's lawyers would argue that Biden can order Trump's execution without any punishment, but that it would not cause him to win the next election because the military and other federal officials are not immune and are "obligated" not to follow illegal orders. So basically the argument is that illegal orders are unlikely to be followed.
- Problem with this argument is that the president has the pardon power, which means he could promise to pardon people for following his illegal orders.
- But the problem with that argument is that some believe the president could pardon himself, so maybe that situation is already a reality even if the president is not immune
- What would actually happen? It seems like in both Watergate and Jan 6, some people did refuse to follow corrupt orders. But in the case of Watergate where there was more time and a more intelligent corrupt president, that wasn't itself a major problem. In Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, he forced his AGs to resign until he landed on future Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, who carried out Nixon's illegal order to fire a special prosecutor. The bad news for Nixon is that the move was so unpopular it eventually led to his resignation as he probably would've been impeached otherwise.
this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2024
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Trump's lawyers would argue that Biden can order Trump's execution without any punishment, but that it would not cause him to win the next election because the military and other federal officials are not immune and are "obligated" not to follow illegal orders. So basically the argument is that illegal orders are unlikely to be followed.
As Biden, I'm not going to risk publicly having Trump killed. I'm getting a hitman
Well,what if Biden shoots Trump during a debate? If he would be immune he cannot be put to trial for it.
Most of SCOTUS is not in favor of "broad immunity", for exactly this scenario. They want to make sure that Trump is never held responsible for his actions while in office, and that every President after Trump(if he doesn't declare himself President for life) is criminally liable for everything. Trump has even said that he'll have Biden prosecuted if he wins.
If he declares himself president for life y'all better follow meal team six's example and storm the capital. Otherwise the fuck are your guns for.
Fucking right? We're at risk of a president declaring himself Emperor of the United States and he's not dead yet?
We're at the precipice of becoming Russia where "democracy" is nothing but a veneer, where the people don't have a real choice in their leaders.
Not in favour... as if it even was an option! WTH is going on over there!?
Ultra-right wing groups slowly taking over various branches of the government because roughly 30% of the population will always vote for them, no matter what.
if he wins.
I'm surprised he could ever even indirectly acknowledge the chance that he could lose
All you need to know about this subject is that Putin passed full immunity for himself. It was one of the nails on the coffin for modern russia.
Wait, I've been out of the loop for a bit; is Trump actually saying that he should be immune to charges because he was the president??? How in the world could he think that would work?
Yes, that is exactly what he is saying. Yes, it is completely absurd and would undermine the bedrock principles of our legal system. However, apparently somewhere between 3 and 6 members of the US Supreme Court may be seriously considering it.
(To be fair, he does claim that this absolute immunity would go away if half of the House and 2/3 of the Senate decided to impeach the President.)
Then again, with that same theory, he could just eliminate Congress altogether before the voting starts for impeachment. Or place specific justices on house arrest before they vote. Basically, the idiotic idea of a president not beholden to laws is mostly the same as a despotism if the "president" wishes it to be.
You’ve been out of the loop for a while now then.
I honestly envy them.
Don't. It's people that are out of the loop (people that work too much, don't care, people with busy lives, etc) who are at risk of falling for Republican propaganda about how bad Biden is and how good Trump is.
An informed populace is always for the best. It's why Republicans attack education and freedom of information so hard.
Be thankful to be informed and thankful you can actually act on it. For now.
Yes. But, just an FYI, that's not the actual reason they're trying to claim it in court. They know it will never succeed, they just want to use it to delay his election trial until after the election.
What do you mean how? He did a bunch of crimes and has not seen any jail time. It’s been working
Yep that's the argument. At the end of the day it's a stalling tactic to push the trial past election day.
Yes, his lawyers have argued that he could order the assassination of a political rival and be immune. And the conservatives judges agree.
Would they agree if Biden used his absolute power to pass a federal law guaranteeing safe access to abortion?
That last part isn't a fact. We don't have a ruling and we don't know how they will vote.
(God knows how this court will vote but don't spread misinformation)
"The conservative justices don't immediately and vehemently disagree"
I think we can agree that this is a fact. And already troubling enough.
If you want to be hyper-technical about it, he could order a hit on Trump, but if Trump was already on the ballot and received 270+ EVs, he would be ineligible to be President. His Vice President would take over as President.
If both were assassinated, the Speaker of the House of the newly-seated Congress would become President.
I don't think you meant that specifically, but yes if ordering a hit is an "official act", he could conceivably order the murder of anyone who cares to stand against him, including those in Congress who might wish to impeach him or remove him from office.
If he can murder his opponents he can declare the election fraudulent and ignore it too.
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