(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . John Dean: Under new ruling, Nixon would have been immune. Sotomayor, Jackson dissents frightening. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-07-01 In perhaps the most bizzarre sequence of events in US history, we had Biden struggle deeply with the debate but against that, Trump did nothing but lie and prepare for more criminality. So, today, the SCOTUS Hard Right Six warned America as to just how much criminality Trump could get away with. John Dean, in his analysis, suggests very strongly that under today’s ruling, Nixon would have been immune from presecution for managing Watergate. Let’s start with Dean: Huffpost: 'Richard Nixon Would Have Had A Pass': John Dean Stunned By Trump Immunity Ruling Former President Richard Nixon’s counsel John Dean said Monday that the Supreme Court’s decision that Donald Trump has full immunity for “official” actions he took as president — even his attempted coup — likely would have meant that Nixon was immune from his criminal conduct during the Watergate scandal that led to his resignation. “As I looked at it, I realized Richard Nixon would have had a pass,” Dean said on a press call with the Defend Democracy Project, a group that advocates for free and fair elections. “Virtually all of his Watergate-related conduct” and “virtually all that evidence falls in what could easily be described as ‘official conduct,’” he said. Dean, who served as counsel to Nixon from July 1970 to April 1973, said he was “stunned” by the Supreme Court’s sweeping 6-3 decision. It concluded that Trump enjoys complete immunity for his coup-attempt-related presidential actions that were “official” in nature, but not for those that were “unofficial.” The justices kicked the case back to a U.S. District Court to sort out what counts as “official” and “unofficial” behavior by a president. Now Sotomayor, briefly: Justice Sonia Sotomayor, reading her dissent from the bench, said that "relying on little more than its own misguided wisdom ... the Court gives former President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more." She added that "because our Constitution does not shield a former President from answering for criminal and treasonous acts, I dissent." Their ruling, she went on, makes three moves that she said "completely insulate Presidents from criminal liability." Sotomayor said the court creates absolute immunity for the president's exercise of "core constitutional powers," creates "expansive immunity for all 'official acts,'" and "declares that evidence concerning acts for which the President is immune can play no role in any criminal prosecution against him." Sotomayor warned that the ruling "will have disastrous consequences for the Presidency and for our democracy" and that it sends the message: “Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends.” And Jackson: "Departing from the traditional model of individual accountability, the majority has concocted something entirely different: a Presidential accountability model that creates immunity—an exemption from criminal law — applicable only to the most powerful official in our Government," she wrote. Jackson warned that under the majority's "new Presidential accountability mode," a hypothetical president "who admits to having ordered the assassinations of his political rivals or critics...or one who indisputably instigates an unsuccessful coup...has a fair shot at getting immunity." How, one has to wonder, would Congress EVER prevent Trump’s acts as “Day One Dictator” if he is able to fire, imprison, or more deeply punish anyone who doesn’t agree with his interpretation as to how the Federal Government works? The somewhat feeble attempt to hang Mike Pence on 1/06 would become far less feeble if Trump believed it to be an “official act.” Back to my opening point: --REGARDLESS AS TO HOW WEAKLY ONE THINKS BIDEN PERFORMED ON THURSDAY, THE ASSAULT AGAINST TRUMP-AS-DICTATOR/CRIMINAL GOING FORWARD JUST GOT EASIER. --FOLLOWING ON THAT, THE EXTENT TO WHICH AMERICANS OUGHT TO BE UTTERLY FRIGHTENED BY TRUMP’S NEW POWERS OUGHT TO BE CONSIDERABLE, AND EASY TO EXPLAIN. --ULTIMATELY, THIS COULD TAKE US TO A CLIMATE IN WHICH DEMS RETAIN THE SENATE, ELIMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, AND RE-MAKE SCOTUS. Btw, at 7:00 tonight EDT MSNBC is holding a special report session to go over today’s awful ruling. 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