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Down by Law: Roberts Rewrites the Rules [1]

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Date: 2024-07-01  

We now live under a different form of government.

Back in the day, by which I mean yesterday, the story was that government figures, including the President, even if impeached and convicted, “shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”

How was this the law? Because it’s written right there in the Constitution — it’s the culminating clause of Article I, section 3, which we’ve all seen before.

What of impeachment? The Constitution does not grant legal immunity to the President or anybody else convicted for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” committed under color of official acts or core powers or for any other reason. Why that document should somehow imply immunity for lesser acts is a mystery for adepts to unravel.

Government figures in other nations have been hanged, with the U.S. in full and enthusiastic participation, for acts that were indubitably official.

Roberts has convened an informal Constitutional Convention of 6 and re-designed the executive branch. The Founders apparently missed the chance to simply put King George on a timer.

That error has now been rectified. Distinguishing three grades of actions – those absolutely immune, those presumptively immune, and, off in the corner, a nearly impossible-to-prosecute residue without immunity, Roberts has produced a tangled tripartite doctrine more reminiscent of the Council of Nicaea than of the Constitutional Convention.

The principal immediate target is unchaining Trump from his recent history, but it’s really all about the long term. Which may well start in 6 months.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/1/2250344/-Down-by-Law-Roberts-Rewrites-the-Rules?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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