“Judicial independence is crucial,” Roberts, the leader of the Supreme Court and the entire federal judiciary, said at a gathering of judges and lawyers in his hometown.
He described the creation of three co-equal branches of government as the Constitution’s one innovation. “That innovation doesn’t work if the judiciary is not independent,” he said.
The 70-year-old chief justice largely repeated things he has said previously. But his comments, in response to questions from another federal judge, drew applause from the 600 people who gathered to mark the 125th anniversary of federal courts in the Western District of New York.
Asked about comments from Trump and his allies supporting the impeachment of judges because of their rulings, Roberts largely repeated the statement he issued in March. “Impeachment is not how you register disagreement with a decision,” he said.
That’s not what the ruling says and repeating that false interpretation only helps Trump.
It’s says that he cannot be held to task for acts he has taken in official capacity. So everything trump is doing, even his personal life, is being done through presidential powers.
It was a ridiculous and bad ruling that set up trump for this. Roberts is culpable.
At this point I’m not sure that’s as important as it should be, because Trump is, in effect, doing whatever he wants – including ignoring the courts.
Of course it matters. States and laws work the way the general consensus says they work. One of the reasons Trump can get away with 90% of what he does is because public servants got fed the idea that the president of the US is above the law.
Shouldn’t laws be (almost) immutable? As in the only way they can be altered is through the courts or by Congress?
If that isn’t the case, and things being as they are, the law is meaningless when it comes to Trump. He ignores rulings he doesn’t like, outright disobeys court-ordered actions, lies to the court (through lawyers) and lies to Congress and Americans all the time.
In theory yes. In practice like all social conventions they change based on what most people believe they are.
I don’t know why everyone is downvoting you. You’re right. I was just being sarcastic.
The ruling was made to retroactively protect Trump and only Trump is the kind of slime bag that would use it in the future.
What did it say?
It says that the president of the US has immunity for official acts which fall within their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority”. This aligns with the executive privileges in other democracies.
And what “official acts” were being referred to in that case? Just to be clear…
Whatever the Supreme Court says is an official act. Even paying off a stripper that he slept with using campaign funds from before he was ever president is considered an official act by the president.