Donald Trump got his hoax handed to him today (sort of) in two Supreme Court opinions, both 7-2 and both saying that The Donald cannot cover up absolutely everything he feels like just because he happens to be in the White House. The Supreme Court double-crossed The Donald as predicted in a Tweet last November:
NewscastNow·
Donald Trump is expendable for the greater cause: restoring oligarch rule in the United States. #SCOTUS
I promise, the Court will eventually double-cross The Donald and the press will pretend they are “objective.”
Then, the Federalist Soc. project to tear down America continues.
Basically the Supreme Court, after months of obstructing justice by delay, finally came to the point where they had to do something. So they did. They handed Donald Trump his big bottom, payable conveniently after the 2020 election.
In the Vance case, the Court said that Donald Trump is not immune from criminal investigation. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance ordered subpoenas for Donald Trump’s financial records from a third party pursuant to a grand jury. Donald Trump sued, claiming he is immune from all criminal process and so are third parties. The Court found 7-2 that he cannot make such a total claim of immunity. And that’s pretty much all it found. The case now goes back down to lower courts for more processing.
In the Mazars case, the Court said that Donald Trump may not disregard Congressional oversight entirely. Related to an impeachment inquiry, the House of Representatives subpoenaed Donald Trump’s financial records from third parties. Again, Donald said he is immune. The Court found 7-2 that there are times when Congress can actually do its function of oversight, setting up a series of complicated tests. But in this case too, it was sent back down to lower courts for further processing.
In the short run, these decisions are wins for Donald Trump. Jay Sekulow, one of his attorneys, put it this way: “The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked both Congress and New York prosecutors from obtaining the President’s tax records. We will now proceed to raise additional constitutional and legal issues in the lower courts.” Delay and obstruction continues.
SOME “TRUMP JUDGES” VOTE AGAINST DONALD TRUMP
Donald Trump chose two Justices for the Supreme Court. First, he chose Neil Gorsuch to fill the deciding seat after Mitch McConnell’s unprecedented obstruction of Barack Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland left the seat open past the 2016 election. Second, he chose Brett Kavanaugh, whose shady character in lying about using stolen Democratic emails to game judicial appointments and in attacking women sexually, produced the weakest confirmation vote in history, just 50 percent.
But Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh voted against Donald Trump anyway. Considering the fact that Donald Trump is down to 40 percent approval and does not appear to have any chance at all to win the 2020 election short of cheating levels much larger than in 2016, now is a good time for these Justices to do the right thing politically — demonstrate their independence from Donald Trump as he falls out of favor.
Because if they don’t, the movement to unpack the Supreme Court by adding Justices will grow. Republicans are aware that unpacking the Supreme Court bears no political cost to Democrats. They are worried. The rest of us need to be aware of this too.
THIRD “TRUMP JUDGE” SUPPORTS THE DONALD
Donald Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry worked with Samuel Alito, and testified for his promotion to Supreme Court: “I may be a little free and call him Sam on occasion because Judge Alito and I go back almost thirty years to 1977.”
In fact, Maryanne Trump Barry was close enough to power that she originally recommended her swamp buddy Sam for the federal bench to George Bush:
When the first President Bush named Judge Alito to the appeals court in 1990, he came with the recommendations of two judges on the court who were close to Judge Becker — Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, who had been once Judge Alito’s boss as a prosecutor, and Judge Leonard Garth, for whom Judge Alito had clerked.
The Trump swamp runs deep. At least “Trump judge” Sam came through. For the other two, the cause of tearing down America in a series of 5-4 opinions that either act as a veto against new legislation or revert existing law back to an earlier time is far more important than protecting Expendable Donald Trump. The reactionary cause will double cross and sacrifice anyone who gets in its way, even its proponents.
P.S.: The term “Trump judges” comes from Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., who responded to a Tweet by Donald Trump complaining of “Obama judges.” Roberts replied:
We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.
If that were true, Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., would not have to break his silence and announce such a thing to the world.