U.S. Supreme Court: Post-Ginsburg Edition

Elie Mystal, Justice correspondent for the Nation noting that Kavanaugh who was complaining at the hearing today regarding how independent counsel under old rules went too far in making life difficult for presidents, was himself an employee once under Kenneth Starr who went too far.

Seeing some elsewhere say that the Justice Department lawyer could have done better in countering the conservative justices on their arguments and conclusions but not sure about that myself

Elie Mystal's prediction feels like it's otm x 10.

Any ruling for total Presidential immunity would forever mark this court as having flushed the republic down the toilet, but allowing Trump's trial to go forward, especially during this election year, will invite the wrath of a million fanatics, constantly inflamed and incited by Trump. The conservative majority will duck and cover like a classroom running a nuclear drill in 1955. They'll settle for maximum delay and hope for the best.

Seeing some elsewhere say that the Justice Department lawyer could have done better in countering the conservative justices on their arguments and conclusions but not sure about that myself

― curmudgeon, Thursday, April 25, 2024

Nah, he did an admirable job, knew his shit, swatted the more ridiculous arguments aside. But Alito and Kavanaugh were relentless.

"Everything's coming up Milhouse Orange Dipshit"

another clarence thomas classic pic.twitter.com/lD9zZZq2AS

— jor (@jorfolle) April 25, 2024

One of the NPR analysts made the point that the conservative part of the SCOTUS bench is full of people who worked in the DOJ for Republican presidents and whose whole conception of the presidency is that it is constantly under deeply unfair and immoral political attack. So of course they view this whole case through that lens.

Yep. And they won’t consider or acknowledge or argue with an opposing view , just double down on their own defensive take.

Let’s fuckin goooooooooooo

Sotomayor: If the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person and he orders the military to assasinate him, is that within his official acts to which he has immunity?

"That could well be an official act," Trump lawyer John Sauer says

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) April 25, 2024

“That could well be an official act, but only if Trump does it,” Sauer clarified.

how officers of the court of any kind refrain from yelling WE SEE EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE DOING is surprising to me but welp

So ... like any other defendant who goes to trial?

Alito described consquences for Trump of going to trial:

"That may involve great expense, and it may take up a lot of time. And during the trial, the former president may be unable to engage in other activities that the former president would want to engage in and then the…

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) April 25, 2024

What about that time the Supreme Court let the civil trial against Clinton go forward because it probably wouldn't take up that much time

If the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person

Clever Sonya! You hid it in plain sight.

Wouldn’t want to cut into his grifting time.

Trump's lawyer was offered a chance for rebuttal at the end and he turned it down. He obviously sensed he was going to get what he wanted

i’m not gonna lie this shit is kinda crazy

What a time to be alive

It's all going according to plan

Trust the plan

If the president decides that his rival a Supreme Court justice is a corrupt person

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/04/supreme-court-trump-immunity-arguments-alito-maga.html

Lithwick, Stern , and others summarizing the Immunity case and how Alito is in his Maga world

“Mark Joseph Stern: This was a great example of Alito being fully brain-poisoned by Fox News. This is been happening for years; he used to ask famously great questions, but these days it’s just culture war grievances and stuff that falls apart upon even a little bit of scrutiny. He’s losing his edge. And that was clear in this bizarro question saying that actually, a functioning constitutional democracy requires us to let presidents off the hook when they engage in a criminal conspiracy to steal elections.”

I hate commentary like this. Alito has always been the biggest POS on the court. Nothing has changed.

Stern knows better than that. Alito asked famously trolly right wing hack questions.

stakes have changed

God help you if you are a criminal defendant whose fate rests in the hands of Samuel Alito . . . unless you are a Republican ex-president, apparently.