The end of the U.S. Supreme Court’s latest term once again brought into focus the right-wing majority’s radical re-interpretation of the Constitution, dramatically out of step with the views of most Americans. The high court’s unpopular rulings this term included invalidating regulations banning bump stocks that turn semiautomatic rifles into virtual machine guns; legalizing bribery for state and local officials; criminalizing homeless people who sleep on the street; invalidating some charges against Jan. 6 insurrectionists; further eroding voting rights by permitting racially gerrymandered election districts and overturning the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine that jeopardizes environmental, public health and workplace safety regulations.
But for many constitutional scholars, the most alarming ruling was the conservative majority’s 6 to 3 decision granting Donald Trump absolute immunity for some of his conduct in the former president’s multifaceted plot to overturn his 2020 election loss. The ruling in the case Trump v. United States grants future presidents absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for all official acts.
Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Marge Baker, executive vice president with People For the American Way, who discusses her views on the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling and what the nation can do now to rein in this extremist court that many now believe has declared war on U.S. democracy.
MARGE BAKER: I think this is a, frankly, corrupt majority on the court on steroids and they are becoming an imperial court. And they’re empowering an imperial presidency. But if, in fact, you really are originalists, you don’t hold that the president is king, right? I mean, the whole country was founded on the notion that we don’t want a king in the executive office and so we can cabined the powers of the presidency and this court has totally undone that.
The shorthand for what the court did. If you’re the president of United States, you get to break the law. No one else does in this country. But if you’re president of United States, you get to break the law. And it is truly, truly distressing, if nothing more emphasizes how huge the stakes are in the upcoming election.
If Trump were to win office, he will have at least two, if not more, vacancies on the Supreme Court to fill.
He will replace Alito and Thomas with younger and probably more extreme versions. And that’s just the beginning. So the stakes are just enormously high for not just this generation, but next generations to come. I worry for my grandchildren.
SCOTT HARRIS: Marge, Trump has stated on the record that he wants to prosecute his political opponents. He wants to shoot protesters in the streets and fire all government employees not personally loyal to him and his agenda. It’s endless what kind of abuse of power we could see under a future Trump presidency. Not just Trump. Any president that wants to assert authoritarian or fascist rule in the United States.
MARGE BAKER: That’s exactly right. Supreme Court got this absolutely wrong. This is a court that’s not just taken power to itself in terms of it’s reining in all of the administrative agencies and requiring everything basically to go to the court for decisions. I mean, that’s an oversimplification, but that’s essentially what it did.
But this is a very dangerous decision. I can’t begin to understand how they could arrive at this result with any kind of comfort that our democracy is protected. It’s horrific, and I think it’s up to the American people, the American voters, to resist.
I did see that Sen. Schumer today was suggesting that they’re going to be introducing legislation that classifies Trump’s efforts to subvert the election as unofficial acts not subject to immunity. It remains to be seen what this court would do with such legislation. I think it’s great to try.
This isn’t the democracy I ever learned about in my schooling. It is autocracy. It’s a dangerous power for any president to have. But it’s particularly dangerous it gives Trump, who’s, as you say, has indicated all the things he’s going to do with his power.
SCOTT HARRIS: Well, Marge, what can democracy defenders do now to rein in this extremist right-wing court and their rulings, and strategize on how to reverse many of their most radically authoritarian rulings? Do we have to wait several generations for a new court to form organically? There has long been a thought that invoking term limits for the justices or expanding the court could be one solution to this radically extremist court.
MARGE BAKER: Absolutely. I mean, I think the first thing is we’ve got to win the next election, right? Because you’ve got to have a president who will sign and a Congress that will enact those kinds of measures. And then absolutely court expansion. Term limits, enforceable code of conduct on the court are all really, really, really essential.
I mean, after all, there were two justices sitting on hearing the immunity case who shouldn’t have been hearing it at all, because it’s very apparent conflicts of interest around the issue of insurrection. Right. So we do need that enforceable code of ethics. But to get there, to get to those solutions, you need to win elections and you need to keep the presidency, and you need to elect a House with the majority of folks who will vote for that.
And you need a Senate that has senators who will get rid of the filibuster in order to pass legislation like this. So it’s doable.
The concern is if we don’t roll up our sleeves and make sure we have someone in the White House and folks in the Senate and the House who will do this, then we really are potentially looking at generations down the road, because again, you can be sure that Alito and Thomas — should Trump win, will vacate their seats so they can be replaced with younger 40-year-olds who will be on the bench for 30 years.
Learn more about People For The American Way at pfaw.org.
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