Hard to Say
There is a TV commercial that aired during the Olympic Trials (Gymnastics, Swimming, and Track and Field; a lot to watch). It has folks who speak English as a second language, first talk about the “hardest things to say in English”. Several talk about linguistics, the difficulty of saying the word “sixth”; and the words the sound the same, like “scissors” and “Caesar”, but mean two different things. But then the topic changes, to the hardest emotional messages to say in English. “Goodbye”, “I was wrong”, “I am sorry”, and “I love you” are some of the phrases so tough to say.
Well, I need to say something that is incredibly difficult to say; both to you, and to myself. I was a fool. I was a fool to expect anything different from the Supreme Court than what we got yesterday. A fool, to believe that this Supreme Court would stick to what they believed. I thought that they believed in the Founding Fathers, and in the sanctity of what the authors of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights said. In fact, I thought that was the entire basis of “originalism”. The law: their theory that the law is “as written” with the “original intent” of the authors. For the past fifty years, I believed that was their guiding principle.
No Man Above the Law
And I had a further “foolish conceit”. I thought that there was a level of our national leadership who understood that MAGA-Trumpism was simply a “story” to gain votes. I anticipated that the Justices on the Supreme Court would pay lip service to Trump, but would stand with the Founding Fathers, their “original” legal foundation. But again, I was a fool.
Yesterday the United States Supreme Court, a topic I’ve spent a lot of time on for the past few weeks, ruled that the United States in NOT a Nation where everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. The Supreme Court created a whole new status of American: one who is literally immune from the law in his/her official capacity; the President of the United States. As noted conservative jurist Michael Luttig stated: “Today our country is changed. We are no longer a Nation where no man is above the law”.
Founding Fathers
There was no need for this. The Nation managed to get through two-hundred and thirty-six years of Presidents, from Washington to Lincoln to the Roosevelts to Barack Obama, without criminal immunity. And we even managed to get through “bad” Presidents; Hoover, Filmore, Harding and Richard Nixon. But now, all the rules are changed. A President is even “presumed immune” in their private conversations and public speeches, even if they are acting in “bad faith”.
And, looking back at the Founding Fathers themselves, there is no question. Their greatest fear was the unchecked Executive, the President who “would be king”. There is absolutely no way that Madison, Washington, Franklin, or even Alexander Hamilton; would have wanted a President to have some form of blanket immunity from criminal responsibility. Today’s “Originalists” on the Supreme Court did the thing they argued most against. They “legislated” and created a Constitutional right out of “whole cloth”.
Signs
So how did those six Justices, led by their Chief, John Roberts, author of the decision, find themselves as “living Constitutionalists”, their own arch-enemy?
This is the center of my own foolishness. The signs were all there: Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife was a leader of the “Stop the Steal” movement. She organized, called, and donated to the attempt to stop the legal transfer of power after the 2020 election. And Justice Samuel Alito literally flew the flag of “rebellion” outside of his homes during January of 2021. They are true believers in the fundamental “canons” of MAGA lore:
- The 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump
- The Justice Department is being used to keep Trump from gaining office again
- Joe Biden is an illegitimate President of the United States
- The entire “main-steam media” is arrayed against Trump, and the United States voter
- “The left” is only interesting in using minorities to gain political power, and wants to create a socialist state, antithetical to their view of what America is.
Sure, I figured Thomas and Alito were that way. But I didn’t think that Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and most of all, Chief Justice Roberts were “all-in” for MAGAism. I thought, wrongly, that they would stand for their own “originalist” ideology. I was a fool.
Foolish Ways
And I keep falling back into my “foolish” ways. After the stunning announcement by the Court yesterday, you would have expected the entire Republican leadership to jump on board, with statements from Speaker Johnson to Chairman Jordan, to Leader McConnell, praising the decision. But we heard little from them yesterday, and my “head” reasoned that they see the reckless and dangerous immunity decision for what it is. But they don’t.
They’ll fall in line, probably today. From Johnson to “Old Turtle” McConnell, they too are believers. And as soon as I get that through my foolish head, then I can think more clearly about the existential threat America faces today. It’s not Trump: as the Bible says in Second Corinthians (or, as Trump said, “two” Corinthians) he is “the imperfect vessel”. But with his victory in 2024, they will “fill” his Presidency with their plans to alter America to some land very different to the one we live in today. It’s not “just” the 2025 Project, but it’s the alternate vision of America that it represents, a vision so powerful that even the Justices of the Supreme Court are willing to give up their own fundamental principles to achieve it.
Ain’t Your Side
There is no middle ground. America is so polarized, that even the Supreme Court is now firmly on a side. Whatever you used to think about America’s leaders standing for something more than “what’s good for them”, stop sharing my foolishness. There is no center, no Roberts standing in between right and left. There is only victory or defeat in November for one side or the other.
Depend on one other thing: the Supreme Court is not an “impartial arbiter”. They too are on a side. And, if you’re a Democrat, if you see a future America as a multi-cultural nation; they ain’t on your side. Don’t be a fool.
