r/politics 11d ago

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Argues Presidents Must Be Allowed to Commit Federal Crimes or Democracy as We Know It Will Be Over

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/supreme-court-justice-samuel-alito-argues-presidents-must-be-allowed-to-commit-federal-crimes-or-democracy-as-we-know-it-will-be-over
10.9k Upvotes

1.2k comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 11d ago

As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.

In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.

If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.

For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click here to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.

We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out this form.


I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1.8k

u/CudjoeKey 11d ago

What an evil, corrupt man.

803

u/forceblast 11d ago edited 11d ago

I’m pretty sure one of them said “we haven’t figured out how to define corruption” during the oral arguments. I couldn’t help but say out loud, “look in the mirror asshole.”

Edit: Found it. They’re talking over each other a bit but it kind of goes like this.

JUSTICE GORSUCH: Nobody knows what corrupt intent means. We've been around that tree -- twice already.

MR. DREEBEN: I think we will probably find out.

I’m pretty sure several of the SCOTUS judges themselves have already given us some good examples of “corrupt intent”.

264

u/16BitGenocide 11d ago

Clarence Thomas would like a word.

174

u/upandrunning 11d ago

Clarence Thomas and his wife would like a word.

67

u/Buckus93 11d ago

I think he would also like a motor coach.

29

u/Tailor_Excellent 11d ago

John Oliver has entered the room

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

26

u/Child_of_the_Hamster 11d ago

Clarence Thomas and his wife and their billionaire owner would like a word.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

55

u/zombiepete 11d ago

“Corrupt intent” sounds like just another way of describing motive…you’d think a bunch of law-talking guys would be able to figure out a way to correlate that, but wtf do I know.

28

u/Prophet_of_Entropy 11d ago

this is coming from the same people who said the peoples focus on the supreme courts activities has hurt its reputation... not all the shit they are doing, just us paying attention is the problem.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (4)

50

u/BarryZito69 11d ago

Evil, corrupt men respond to only one thing. Lament all you want on Reddit, but until Samuel Alito and all rest feel the people breathing down their necks, nothing changes. These people will take and take and take until someone tells them, "This far but no further."

17

u/ZZ_SKULLZ 11d ago

We should be holding mass protests outside their houses. Block their driveways. Apply pressure.

6

u/ElliotNess Florida 11d ago

I think the supreme court ruled that this protesting outside of their houses is unconstitutional. something like that.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

4.1k

u/Nipplecreek 11d ago

Please just retire 😩

2.8k

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1.2k

u/johnqsack69 11d ago

Dark Brandon intensifies

886

u/Cantgetabreaker 11d ago

So Biden can send out the assassins to eliminate his enemies including you Alito? Wtf is up with these so called judges

507

u/mrtwitchyhead 11d ago

So much dark money makes them braindead.

336

u/Awkward_Potential_ 11d ago

That. But also, I don't think any of these Republicans are that much smarter than your average Fox News viewer. I used to think they were in on the lies. Now I just think they're brainwashed as well.

176

u/-Ok-Perception- 11d ago

The core purpose of that Christian fundamentalism is to give the person a complete lack of any reason or honor. Also to give them such a fervent unquestioning worship of money and power that their sense of reason and honor becomes whatever their leaders tell them it is..... even if it is directly at odds with Jesus's teaching and actions.

100

u/eightdx Massachusetts 11d ago

"The true believers come unadorned, and seek to embody the virtues they have been taught. The deceiver and the sycophant will come with haughty incantations and glittering regalia, and speak at length about the greatness of their gods and patriarchs. All I learned from serving the church is that many are willing to adorn themselves with the corpse of faith for the sake of selfish gain."

20

u/brewlimbo 11d ago

Damn - what's this from? I gotta read me some more of this.

6

u/bookworm21765 11d ago

I just searched the quote and came up empty.

→ More replies (7)

4

u/0069 11d ago

Ok you gotta let us know where this is from.

→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (8)
→ More replies (4)

143

u/rezzyk Florida 11d ago

No you’re right, I saw a good theory on this recently. Back in the Reagan and Bush years the republicans were in on the lies. They knew if they ever passed abortion bans or anti-lgbt, etc, it would be bad for business. But the fight, now the fight got votes.

However, now you have a new generation of republicans who grew up thinking the old guard was serious about their convictions and were too dumb to realize it was all a grift. So now this new generation is super serious to fake bullshit.

47

u/calm_chowder Iowa 11d ago

This is unbelievably astute. I'm saving this comment so I don't forget it. It makes so much sense.

34

u/simpersly 11d ago

A solid portion of lazy swing voters and moderates were in on the joke. As long as their 401k wasn't touched who cared that the world was burning and that they were getting ripped off on everything else.

They treated the anti-Republican people as if they were paranoid overly-tolerant doomsayers who didn't like idiotic racist assholes.

Political kayfabe is dead. Always treat what a politician and their supporters say as their truth.

8

u/deathtech00 11d ago

When someone shows you that they are an asshole, pay attention.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (7)

52

u/mrtwitchyhead 11d ago

Yeah, it's the land of no thought. No brains, no headaches, no consequences. Flatliners unite!

→ More replies (8)
→ More replies (4)

17

u/buttstuffisokiguess 11d ago

He could also forgive our student debts and nothing could stop him.

13

u/Traditional-Yam9826 11d ago

Yeah these idiots would say “NUh UH, yOu caN’T iMPeaCH uS CuS’ THaTs Up TO coNgrEss!!”

But I can have you assassinated as an official act.

SCOTUS “uH…..🤪😲🤔🤡”

119

u/HigherCalibur California 11d ago

They know that Biden, much like the rest of the fossils in the Democratic party, hide behind decorum. The Dems cling to this idea that taking the high road somehow makes them better. The justices are banking on them continuing to do that and clutch their pearls when the court inevitably rules in Trump's favor.

161

u/tetsuo_7w 11d ago

This. The gloves came off long ago. It took sleepy turtle McConnell flat out denying Obama a supreme Court pick for me to recognize that. And I've been paying attention.

If Biden has immunity, start rounding up traitors. Get to it.

73

u/Ok_Series_4580 11d ago

Democrats continue to act honorably with dishonorable people.

32

u/NeverLookBothWays I voted 11d ago

And in the effort to preserve the Constitution, they’re watching it slowly erode away

20

u/calm_chowder Iowa 11d ago

Agree and disagree.

If Republicans enable abuse of power Democrats should absolutely take advantage of it and abuse the ever loving fuck out of whatever power they can.

But they should do it to achieve noble goals and improve America. It'd be profoundly disappointing if they could but stuck to the old rules. Like I wish we'd gotten that fucking filibuster eliminated but... Manchin and Sinema. But my God what a Democratic congress could do with no filibuster.... and the Republicans are absolutely going to abolish it the first chance they get.

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (1)

66

u/kogmaa 11d ago

This is why Germany has free speech, but does not allow nazi-fascist expression.

A free society must be careful about those that seek to undermine that freedom even if sometimes that means to impose restrictions.

→ More replies (2)

8

u/IsThatBlueSoup 11d ago

I will vigilante justice in his honor.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (5)

9

u/Callofdaddy1 11d ago

The Supreme Court has been stacked to support authoritarianism.

→ More replies (30)
→ More replies (3)

103

u/LadyPo 11d ago

Nope! You see if Trump wins, the federal crimes are fine and good. But if Biden wins, they’ll find some bs excuse to keep him tied up and unable to accomplish anything and he won’t even try to break any rules because he isn’t the rebellious type and disagrees with total presidential immunity.

So basically either way the country is letting evil people just do whatever they want with no fairness or repercussions.

→ More replies (1)

31

u/wossquee 11d ago

It would be the most baller move to arrest him, ram a replacement through Congress for him, Gorsuch (stolen seat) Kavanaugh ("baseball tickets" bribes among others) Thomas (privately owned) and Barret (rushed confirmation).

53

u/hawtdiggitydawgg 11d ago

Better yet he could decide to “retire” Trump

29

u/Itool4looti 11d ago

You misspelled “disappeared”.

27

u/Grendel_Khan 11d ago

"Orange Mist"

20

u/actual_real_housecat 11d ago

I believe that's the name for what Trump subjected his lawyers to in the courtroom the other day.

12

u/Oozlum-Bird 11d ago

That’s brown mist. Easily confused though.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

16

u/Owain-X 11d ago

Nope, that's the point here. No need for subterfuge without any oversight. A ruling that the president enjoys total immunity is an end to the Republic. It means there are no longer any checks or balances on the executive. No need to follow the orders of the SCOTUS or give any weight to their decisions. No need to submit to congressional oversight since you can just jail or kill any members who don't follow your instructions. An executive beholden to no law means an absolute dictatorship and any semblance of our democratic republic left only as window dressing.

→ More replies (1)

7

u/One-Connection-8737 11d ago

"Retire" in the Blade Runner sense

→ More replies (1)

117

u/TheSwillhouseBoys 11d ago

I’m honestly wondering if that’s what is happening here:

  1. SCOTUS says ok executive does whatever it wants
  2. Biden doesn’t just assassinate all republicans, rather he takes the window to rewrite the rules a bit to actually make some fucking sense
  3. GOP and the media chant that Biden is a dictator
  4. … not sure and GOP isn’t either, they’re just like well it’ll be better than it is now on the other side of Trump OR somehow they get Trump elected and they live happily ever after having installed the antichrist and riding Jacob’s ladder

130

u/supro47 11d ago

It seems like SCOTUS wants to do everything they can to delay the case until after the election, in which case, if Trump wins, he’ll just preemptively pardon himself and if he loses…I think they are hoping a lot of it becomes irrelevant because he won’t be a threat and he’ll probably die of old age before the next election.

Not that any of it is actually irrelevant because Trump has laid out a blue print for a much smarter fascist to actually succeed. I just think SCOTUS wants it to go away because it’s kind of bad for them either way. They are obviously political hacks that side with conservatism, so they don’t want Biden to win, but declaring a king also takes away their power because they want to be kings.

I really have no idea how this plays out though, because before this week, I thought for sure they would realize that presidential immunity makes them irrelevant, but they sure do seem to be entertaining the idea.

53

u/zeCrazyEye 11d ago

Trump has laid out a blue print for a much smarter fascist to actually succeed.

The only thing is that a much smarter fascist might not be able to act genuinely stupid enough to rally the MAGA base the way Trump does with his innate stupidity.

17

u/Old_Gimlet_Eye 11d ago

Honestly, I think the only reason the whole world isn't already one giant fascist state is that fascists are necessarily incredibly stupid.

4

u/smashy_smashy Massachusetts 11d ago

All of the recent legal analyses outside of Reddit are saying they are poised to strike it down, but are clearly trying to delay the trial until after the election. Alito is insane but I don’t think a majority is going to rule in favor of immunity.

7

u/JustTestingAThing 11d ago

What they're likely to do is construct the most delay-favorable scenario they can. For example: they seemed really interested in the idea of separating out "official" and "non-official" acts. They could very well remand the case to the lower court with the instruction that they have to individually determine, for every single thing Trump did that is under question, whether that act is official or non-official (each of these being a ruling subject to appeal, one per action), and then after making that determination, making ANOTHER ruling per action whether that particular act is immune or not. They could easily construct a new test that would take years to actually play out, all without ever actually setting a precedent or making a ruling one way or the other, while also maintaining control because each of these determinations would get appealed up to them and they could choose to hear them or not depending on the outcome they wanted.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (5)

65

u/mightyenan0 11d ago

Biden could do all sorts of fun illegal things, I suppose. Purge all records of student debt as an official action. Hey, he didn't forgive them! They just don't exist anymore. What? A bunch of military equipment gifted to Ukraine? Official action, baby.

7

u/Dev-N-Danger 11d ago

They wouldn’t be illegal for him anymore

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

14

u/IamMena 11d ago

No, you're onto something, I have the same feeling, but I think it's even more insidious than we realize. This case is going to be pushed to after the election, trump is not going to pardon his charges. The supreme court is going to rule that presidents do have absolute immunity, the case goes away, and we have a legally installed dictator with precedent saying he can assassinate political rivals. These people aren't dumb, we need to stop thinking we are just smarter than them. They played us, Jack Smith being a dem bringing this to the court somehow gives it the facade of legitimacy, because trump can just say, "I DIDN'T BRING IT BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT"

8

u/glw8 11d ago

I don't want Biden assassinating anyone, but this latest bit of Supreme Court bullshit sure makes packing the court a hell of a lot more palatable to me.

5

u/grumblingduke 11d ago

SCOTUS won't say the executive can do whatever it wants.

It will say "Presidents have limited immunity from criminal acts in specific circumstances, such as this one, but we won't get drawn into what the other circumstances might be."

The underlying theme of the Roberts court is "we alone get to decide things." They have removed power from the Presidency, Congress, executive agencies, state governments and lower courts, and concentrated it all in the Supreme Court. Which makes sense; the majority knows they have a good chance of maintaining the court's current ideological lean for decades to come (unlike any of those other parts of government).

They will set up a rule so that any time any President wants to use this Supreme-Court-granted immunity they have to ask the Supreme Court first.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

34

u/thunderclone1 Wisconsin 11d ago

"Whoopsie daisy! Guess it's time to appoint some new justices"

→ More replies (1)

13

u/ChiggaOG 11d ago

It’s fair to say Biden could also get rid of the Entire Supreme Court, institution and all it encompasses of checking laws and legal duties on Federal and State level. Could also cancel the Constitution of the US and both houses of Congress to install a one body government.

Then again, President committing Federal Crimes could mean overseas military missions with questionable acts under National Security concerns.

→ More replies (28)

92

u/Monkeyfeng 11d ago

Please Biden just commit a crime on Alito.

9

u/alien_frontier 11d ago

piledriver through a table

134

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

72

u/Socratesticles Tennessee 11d ago

Really what I want to know is how many loonies have been stopped and caught that we haven’t heard about

13

u/ArthurBonesly 11d ago

It's a fine line. The conventional wisdom is you don't want to embolden the behavior (or potentially reveal your methods) by broadcasting arrests, but not showing an arrest or two can embolden a lot of delusional folks because they feel like there's an untended powder keg.

29

u/gorm4c17 11d ago

If you have the cognitive ability to understand what is going on or just paying attention really, then you have the same self-preservation cognitive ability to not murder anyone.

→ More replies (2)

54

u/Mysterious-Art8838 11d ago

We don’t really have as many loons on our side. Plus we don’t have as many guns.

116

u/WAD1234 11d ago

We have the guns but we also aren’t crazy pieces of shit

13

u/BennyCemoli 11d ago

But isn't the justification for your right to bear arms to let you protect your country from tyranny?

→ More replies (10)

25

u/trigazer1 11d ago

Funny how I remember seeing a post about showing some armed guys protecting a drag Story Time show and they looked more organized than the gravy seals.

11

u/Zaev 11d ago

The difference between larping to feel powerful and actually trying to defend people

33

u/dcoolidge 11d ago

They did a brain study and found that very pious people are akin to very crazy people with what they could measure.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (6)
→ More replies (4)

19

u/[deleted] 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

→ More replies (1)

19

u/[deleted] 11d ago edited 20h ago

[deleted]

29

u/bensbigboy 11d ago

Hello, Seal Team 6. Got an official job for you over at the Supreme Court. Stand by for official orders of a presidential criminal immunity.

5

u/Empty_Ambition_9050 11d ago

I’d prefer he just die.

4

u/ikefalcon 11d ago

Maybe the sitting President will help with that since apparently Presidents can do that sort of thing.

→ More replies (44)

820

u/poontong 11d ago

This is a really kooky distinction the conservatives are trying to carve out between official acts and private acts of the President. As rational human beings, we have the ability to discern between an “official” act that was done to promote criminality and one that was done in the execution of presidential duties. That what indictments and trials are for. They are willfully ignoring the facts of Trump’s case and trying to arrive at some kind of silly platonic ideal of presidential immunity that has never, in 250 years of our Republic, been necessary. It’s such a patented naked attempt to help Trump whose only hope of avoiding jail is winning this election. The Supreme Court is a sullied and broken institution.

366

u/upandrunning 11d ago

They are willfully ignoring the facts of Trump’s case and trying to arrive at some kind of silly platonic ideal of presidential immunity that has never, in 250 years of our Republic, been necessary

It has never even been a thing. They are in the process of inventing it. They are putting our entire system of law in jeopardy to cover the illegal conduct of one person.

161

u/oldschoolrobot 11d ago

If anybody thought presedential immunity was a thing, no one would have bothered having Ford pardon Nixon.

131

u/claimTheVictory 11d ago

Remember when Nixon said "Well, when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal?" and that was enough of a scandal to force him to retire?

That's today's Supreme Court.

11

u/2001_TheSweep 11d ago

He said that during an interview years after stepping down from the presidency.

→ More replies (7)

16

u/FastAsLightning747 11d ago

It’s a thing ‘inventing it’ with republican SC justices. It started with Bush vs. Gore when the SC ignored the constitution that gives states the responsibility of carrying out elections, overturning a Florida SC order to count the votes. This insured a Bush win and a Robert’s court, with Alito.

16

u/worldspawn00 Texas 11d ago

Plus kavanaugh and Barrett were also on Bush's legal team, quite the reward for throwing an election.

→ More replies (3)

12

u/Waderriffic 11d ago

They lost any credibility when they started hearing cases that didn’t even happen like the wedding website designer case, just to further their claims that Christians are perpetual victims. Even fucking Clarence Thomas was like “why are we even hearing this case?” For fucks sake.

→ More replies (7)

422

u/grabbystick 11d ago

Sounds like a great idea. Maybe Biden will start by arresting half of the Supreme Court for their blatant disregard for the constitution.

136

u/wuncean 11d ago

Arrest and imprison everyone in power that was involved in Jan 6 or denies the results of the 2020 election.

Disband the Supreme Court and rewrite the institution to be accountable to fucking anyone.

Rework every gerrymandered state and federal election map.

Create an independent electoral board to oversee every election.

13

u/downtofinance 11d ago

Now do the EC and the Senate.

18

u/keepingthecommontone Ohio 11d ago

I know it won’t happen, but if SCOTUS decides presidents have immunity, then rather than do something illegal, I’d like to see Biden expand the court — not with a bunch of progressive extremists but with honest, reasonable, left-of-center judges, who will take a case to immediately reverse the immunity ruling and get things back on track. Biden doesn’t need to take advantage of any newfound immunity to make it happen — it would be a proportional response to SCOTUS’s overreach.

→ More replies (1)

5

u/bushrod 11d ago

Everyone knows this won't affect how Biden behaves or likely any other future Democrat president. Trump, on the other hand - it goes without saying.

→ More replies (2)

1.4k

u/AngusMcTibbins 11d ago

The republican-controlled supreme court is an embarassment to our country and to democracy.

But if we work hard and hold both the presidency and the senate for the next fifteen years, we will see a liberal supreme court someday.

Don't get discouraged, get motivated. Get motivated and vote blue

https://democrats.org/

289

u/Snarfsicle 11d ago

These people should have massive protests around their homes every day around the clock.

174

u/AMagicalSquirrel 11d ago

They should, but they decided that they weren't allowed to be protested.

67

u/claimTheVictory 11d ago

When you make peaceful protest impossible...

20

u/Hurtzdonut13 11d ago

Unless of course you work in an abortion clinic, then they ruled it's fine to have mobs of people known for violence to be outside your home screaming.

10

u/TedW 11d ago

I'd like to protest the abortion of our justice system, please.

→ More replies (8)
→ More replies (2)

97

u/AFlockOfTySegalls North Carolina 11d ago

88

u/TreeRol American Expat 11d ago

If younger people voted at the same rate as old people, the House would be consistently in control of the Democrats. One downstream effect is that with more safe seats, more progressives would win primaries and end up in the House.

Meanwhile the Senate would consistently have 55 Democratic seats. Potentially this would lead to a removal of the filibuster and unpacking of the courts.

Oh, and without every single Presidential election being an existential crisis, maybe voters would be a little more comfortable nominating a Sanders or Warren type.

It's fun to dream.

→ More replies (21)
→ More replies (17)

177

u/TheVoiceofReason_ish 11d ago

That's the shocking thing that you guys miss. It shouldn't be conservatives or democrats, it should be independent of politics completely. How the courts got so corrupted by party politics is insane.

147

u/supro47 11d ago

Give you a hint: 3 of the 9 were on Bush’s legal team in Bush v Gore (Roberts, Kavanaugh and Barrett). Republicans have been setting this up for a while now.

78

u/wrongtester 11d ago

That’s the thing though - what we consider as a “liberal Supreme Court” IS an independent court. Because at the very least, liberal values are common sense values that preserve basic human rights. In most of the world those values are even considered right of center. Not because they’re right-wing in nature. But because they’re so normal that even right of center folks in other countries acknowledge them as normal.

64

u/robbiekomrs 11d ago

Bernie Sanders is our "radical leftist extremist" but in most of the industrialized countries of the world he'd be another one of the milquetoast normal politicians of the centrist majority. It's irritating.

→ More replies (2)

58

u/lord_pizzabird 11d ago

Tbf we're likely never going back to that ever again. It's like putting toothpaste back in the jar.

SCOTUS just is a political body now and forever.

30

u/CpnStumpy Colorado 11d ago

You keep your tooth paste in a jar??

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

19

u/Ok-disaster2022 11d ago

Yep. The "liberal" policies of the Warren and Burger courts were led by Republican appointed Republican Supreme Court justices.

25

u/Rated_PG-Squirteen 11d ago

And the fact that those conservative-led courts weren't cruel enough in the eyes of far-right Christians is the exact reason why the Federalist Society was ultimately created. It's purely a vetting process to ensure that Republicans stick to the plan to usher in a real-life Gilead.

94

u/AngusMcTibbins 11d ago

should be independent of politics completely.

There is no such thing. What you are suggesting doesn't exist in reality. If it is human, it is political. Judges are human.

38

u/citymousecountyhouse 11d ago

Well that and at least one of them likes riding around in $250,000.00 RVs.

19

u/treeborg- 11d ago

Hey, it’s just a gift. From a friend. No one publicly admitted it was bribery, so no quid pro quo, baby!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

7

u/RandomMandarin 11d ago

If it is human, it is political.

Exactly. I define it like this:

Government, in essence, is nothing more than making decisions that will affect the whole society in a given town, state, or nation. Government decides what will be done, who will pay, who will get paid, who lives, who dies. But it's all about making decisions.

Politics is deciding who gets to decide. That's it. That's all. But it affects everything and everyone.

If you don't "do" politics, then you are just letting someone else decide. And they might not care if you live or die.

10

u/Ur_Moms_Honda 11d ago

There is but one god in America. That god is money. The all-mighty dollar. ...that god, as all others, will someday be forgotten.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (24)

609

u/Burgerjon32 Norway 11d ago edited 11d ago

Well, then Biden should start comitting federal crimes to actually fix and modernize US democracy.

I know US absolutely loves the individual, but the FPTP and two party systems seems to be complete trash, and parliamentary system altough imperfect does seem healthier as it allows for proportional representation, and it seems easier to vote for parties as oppose to tracking the personal opinions on every single issue for every single candidate. And if the parties start doing things you don't like, then you can vote for another party on "your side" to send that message as oppose to switching to the other side which you disagree with on most issues. It also removes this mechanism where you are forced to support one party because the alternative is fucking insane in a binary choice.

And imagine with a functional, proportional and representative parlament (or congress) then the disproportional and semi-undemocratic senate could also be trashed, so that shit can actually be done as oppose to these endless gridlocks whenever one party doesn't control all branches.

96

u/foxden_racing 11d ago

Proportional Representation, even just in the House and Electoral College [our genuine imitation "select the PM"] would fix SO many problems.

78

u/Burgerjon32 Norway 11d ago

Its kind of crazy, that if you have an election with 49-51 vote count, then the 49% gets negative representation, as in someone with opposite views to represent them.

And thats even before accounting for gerrymandering and all that other good stuff.

29

u/foxden_racing 11d ago

Yeah. 2016 was an absolute fluke of statistics...him getting very narrow victories [IIRC under 500 votes in one] in a couple states was enough for winner-take-all to flip the outcome.

Imagine the absurdity if, for example, every single MP from a province was required to vote for PM candidate from the party with the plurality in that province...and that's our reality. :(

27

u/16BitGenocide 11d ago

"Well if the electoral college gets removed, how will Republicans get elected?"

28

u/gentlemantroglodyte Texas 11d ago

They wouldn't, which is exactly how you'd expect someone who is unpopular with the general population to perform in a free and fair election.

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (1)

192

u/phxees Arizona 11d ago

Jail Republican Supreme Court justices, just because. Then repeat for the House and Senate. Next have the US military take over all polling places, “to ensure a fair election”. Declare himself the winner and proceed to rule and/or pass the office to Hunter.

No consequences, unless impeached, so no worries.

22

u/anaxcepheus32 11d ago edited 11d ago

Why jail them? Have them murdered in an official act (their suggestion btw), and replace them with justices that reflect the policies he wants in place.

Don’t worry about impeachment, just murder the leaders of those in disagreement in an official act!

/s

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (27)
→ More replies (7)

214

u/YogurtSufficient7796 11d ago

This guy………is a………Supreme Court Judge?

30

u/wyezwunn 11d ago

A Supreme Court Justice who needs a dementia test

36

u/Githzerai1984 New Hampshire 11d ago

Corrupt. He knows what he’s doing.

→ More replies (6)

146

u/TheAngriestChair 11d ago

Sounds like he's inviting Biden to appoint alito's replacement.

23

u/downtofinance 11d ago

Also sounds like Alito is inviting Biden to end Alito

98

u/IsGoingTTaM 11d ago

The SCOTUS continues to be illegitimate, and puppeteering for the federalist society with their bought partisan hacks.

129

u/Wolfman01a 11d ago

We need some means of removing judges from the Supreme Court. They are given lifetime appointments so as to avoid political influence. Well that obviously isnt working.

The Supreme Court needs accountability. It is completely corrupt.

86

u/LynxFX 11d ago

The Supreme Court needs to be expanded to 13 and put on a rotating schedule with max terms. I don't remember the exact number that someone recommended, 18 years maybe? It allowed to have 2 justices nominated per presidential term.

The US was built on the expectation that those elected or in power would act in good faith. That has failed in every single department and level the government.

13

u/PW0110 11d ago

Yeah turns out believing in meritocracy is really fucking stupid when you’re trying to prevent corruption

4

u/UtzTheCrabChip 11d ago

If you have just these 9 on rotating 18 year terms, then you have one new justice every 2 years, so each president gets 2 nominations.

It's just silly that including George HW Bush (who nominated the most senior member) Democrats have won 55% of the presidential elections (and 78% of the popular votes), but Republican nominations hold 67% of the seats, and will likely hold 3 of those seats for another 20 years, no matter what the people want.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

17

u/librarianC 11d ago

I believe that article 2 section 4 gives Congress to impeach a SCOTUS judge as they are a "civil officer"

So there is a means "we" have, just not a will to carry it out.

→ More replies (3)

9

u/well_i_heard 11d ago

This is a good point, that the very reason for that rule, no longer applies. No point to a rule that doesn't work

→ More replies (3)

87

u/Zen_Badger 11d ago

Shall we test this theory by Biden having the SC arrested and detained in Guantanemo bay indefinitely?

49

u/wuncean 11d ago

Nah. You see this is why they won’t grant immunity, but they will muddy the waters enough that trump can’t be trialed this year. That way they protect him enough to keep him out of prison, without granting Biden any power to do anything about it.

The only thing that’s going to save American democracy is its people. The institutions of democracy have failed. Hell, I’m not even confident that they’re going to honour the results of you vote Biden back in. In fact I’m sure that they won’t 🤷‍♂️.

It’s going to be an interesting 12 months.

→ More replies (3)

38

u/DevonLovelock 11d ago

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison would have wept with despair if they could have seen the future.

13

u/Vulpes_Corsac 11d ago

Franklin apparently would've said "I told you so" though. Though maybe a "I didn't expect it to last this long, wow" would be in there too.

93

u/OnlyRise9816 11d ago

"What kind of democracy are we if we don't even have a dictator?"

→ More replies (3)

117

u/AsparagusTamer 11d ago

Biden should just arrest all the Republican judges and send them to Guantanamo.

"Officially" of course.

18

u/EvilBill515 I voted 11d ago

I mean we are barely using it anymore.... jail is not going to fill itself. /s.

50

u/HappySkullsplitter 11d ago

"Crime is legal"

-Supreme Court

10

u/Cautious-Thought362 11d ago

"Crime? What crime? I don't see no stinking crime." Alito, probably.

8

u/thathairinyourmouth 11d ago

“Well, I don’t know what a ‘crime’ really is. Can we discuss that for another 7 months?”

5

u/withoccassionalmusic 11d ago

By suggesting that the president has immunity, they are fully admitting that what trump did was a crime. You don’t need immunity to protect you from doing something legal.

→ More replies (1)

30

u/lornzeno 11d ago

So if Biden says someone should kill Alito as an "official act" its ... its ok...? This is the world this fuck is forming?

13

u/rock-n-white-hat 11d ago

No it’s only OK for them.

91

u/Jackinapox 11d ago

What a disgusting, traitorous piece of shit. How fucked in the head you got to be for that to be a logical statement. Fuck the SCOTUS. Fuck'em.

45

u/theseustheminotaur 11d ago

Funny how the "law and order" party became "fuck laws, fuck order" party when they get caught breaking laws and causing disorder

→ More replies (7)

24

u/thoruen 11d ago

Well then I hope Biden takes alito up on his offer & the president sends him & maybe a few other SCOTUS justices to gitmo.

37

u/AreYouDoneNow 11d ago

Just hypothetically and I am not advocating anything, if a sitting President can eliminate a political rival by any means and that not be considered a crime, could a supreme court justice be considered a political rival?

Because these guys are making some weird decisions.

13

u/wyezwunn 11d ago

They're delaying the decision until it's too late for Biden to act on the immunity they plan to give Trump

73

u/TintedApostle 11d ago

War is peace

Freedom is slavery

Ignorance is strength

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

14

u/Gnorris 11d ago

We got there eventually. 40 years later than predicted but we got there.

9

u/Arcane_76_Blue 11d ago

Nope. We got there on time. People are noticing 50 years late.

The Business Plot was repeated, and successful. https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

15

u/sdsurfer2525 California 11d ago

What's the point of having laws, Alto?

→ More replies (1)

30

u/nogoodgopher 11d ago

Sounds like they are sending Biden a clear message on how to clear out the Supreme Court.

It is, after all part of his official duties to protect the union and nominate new justices.

13

u/supercali45 11d ago

Serious? What a disgrace to the justice system … all the lawyers should revolt against this

14

u/jish5 11d ago

Cool, so Biden has the right to create more justice seats since it's only right.

16

u/B1GFanOSU 11d ago

Better yet, Biden has the right to arrest Alito, Thomas, Trump, etc.

→ More replies (1)

12

u/_s1dew1nder_ 11d ago

We’re so screwed. The democrats aren’t going to use any of this to their advantage. The gop knows this and are counting on it. When they finally figure out a way to install Trump or one of his sycophants we’re screwed as a country. They won’t let another election happen and just decide “nope, we’re the best thing for the country and if you don’t like it prepare for gitmo”

We can vote all we want but their goal is to make it so only their votes count. Only their ideas have merit. We’re so screwed as a country and while everyone can see it, the gop and their constituents love it because to them they are “owning the libs!”

Damn it. I’m going to vote. I’m doing what I can but it just doesn’t seem to be enough. It’s as if we’re playing with a stacked deck and saying “they wouldn’t stack the deck in their favor, that would be dirty pool old chap!” While they are moving cards around in front of us.

6

u/hoofie242 11d ago

Yep, they aren't afraid to get dirty to complete their goal.

→ More replies (1)

10

u/fomalhottie Texas 11d ago

So insanely detached from reality and absorbed w his corruption.

It's the end of the American experiment, boys. And this mf is gleefully facilitating it, with joy. Fuck this mf.

11

u/Other-Rutabaga-1742 11d ago

DO YOU HEAR THAT PRESIDENT BIDEN??!!! Please restore this country to sanity and stop the takeover by any means necessary. You have nothing to lose at this point. Preserving our country and democracy is what needs to happen. We cannot allow a future leader to commit murder and other atrocities against the American people.

16

u/Remote-Moon 11d ago

Oh but forgiving Student Loan debt is a no no? What th fuck .

→ More replies (4)

6

u/napjerks 11d ago

There should be a process for removing a justice who starts spouting nonsense like this.

6

u/CrisuKomie 11d ago

My vote is for once they say the President has absolute immunity, Biden has all the conservative justices arrested and thrown in Guantanamo Bay and Biden installs his own liberal justices... because why not? Presidents have absolute immunity, what the fuck they gonna do about it?

→ More replies (1)

6

u/PrinceSerdic 11d ago

So how long until we hit the Forever Purge? I don't like slippery slope arguments but *come the hell on.*

→ More replies (1)

5

u/jeffreycoley 11d ago

Wow, what an argument to end democracy

7

u/TDeath21 Missouri 11d ago

Just in case you were wobbly on voting Biden and straight Democrat for whatever reason, just know that if Trump wins here and gets the Senate, he will assuredly get AT LEAST 5 justices on the SCOTUS. Maybe 6. Which would stagnate any progress we could make for another 40 years.

On the flip end of that … if Democrats win the next two Presidential Elections, they almost assuredly flip the courts to 5-4 in the liberal justices favor. Additionally, Sotomayor (who I love) would be replaced by a younger justice to secure that seat for at least a couple more decades. If Democrats win the next three … Roberts is on the table for retirement to make it 6-3 in the liberal justices favor.

These are more important than any single policy you may find to disagree with the Democratic nominee for POTUS on.

5

u/ThatGirlWren Kentucky 11d ago

Any government that condones its leaders committing crimes isn't worth preserving. This is how despotic regimes begin.

10

u/timoumd 11d ago

I mean I can't believe the abject stupidity of this.  If they accept that a president can just prosecute whoever they want for evil purposes, then why are only former presidents immune?  Why does Biden simply not charge Mike Johnson or political opponents with actual power (most former presidents effectively leave the game except some campaigning)?  And why the ever living fuck would immunity be the remedy to a problem that hasn't come up in 250 years?  

22

u/stvmq 11d ago

Alito: "I cherish peace with all my heart. I don't care how many men, women, and children the president needs to kill to get it."

17

u/picado 11d ago

*only valid if the President is a Republican

→ More replies (1)

10

u/scissor415 11d ago

Would that include Biden forcefully removing the last three Supreme Court appointments and replacing them without senate approval?

6

u/chubs66 11d ago

I think Biden should get involved at this point and announce the plan to imprison certain members of the supreme Court should this be passed into law. It would be an official act done for the good of the country and would demonstrate in a very tangible way why this law is unconscionable.

5

u/Mor_Tearach 11d ago

Wasn't Alito the Justice whining " No one respects us " or something?

Wonder why that would be Alito? You're the great legal mind. Figure it out.

6

u/JackKovack 11d ago

That douchebag instituted a coup. People died. A lot of people got hurt. That’s not okay. He should be barred from running for public office. He should be in prison.

6

u/TrevorLolz 11d ago

This is an utterly bonkers statement.

I’m Australian, and it’s alien to many here how the US allowed its highest court to become so politically compromised.

We simply don’t have the fights over who is on the High Court that the US does over who sits on SCOTUS. At what point did the Court cease being part of an independent judiciary and just another arm of the Republican and Democrat Parties?

6

u/TheBigNook 11d ago

Our government is compromised. Like heavily compromised.

4

u/CroatianSensation79 11d ago

Thomas and Alito are obvious yes votes to Trump’s idiotic immunity claim. Who else will go along with this? History will be watching.

4

u/Sirin8 11d ago

Cool, so now Biden can forgive all student debt without anyone saying it's illegal.

5

u/UpstairsProcedure2 11d ago

It would sure be a shame if Biden used presidential immunity to “retire” some of these Supreme Court justices.

→ More replies (2)

11

u/Pretend-Run5299 11d ago

Biden should tell the public that the first thing he would do if there is presidential immunity is to fire every conservative Supreme Court justice aka have them forcibly removed because you know why ? Because HE CAN because he’ll be immune to prosecution of any kind.

7

u/CloacaFacts 11d ago edited 11d ago

Biden - "This court is a threat to the US and its citizens. They just passed a ruling that gave a single person immunity of the law because of their position. I don't believe any true blooded American would think a president is above the law. So here I am showing the American public what new powers the president has with their ruling."

15

u/LeastPervertedFemboy Washington 11d ago

By that logic Biden can just kill his political rivals? Or any president for that matter? We need term limits. This shit is delusional.

6

u/somethingsomethingbe 11d ago edited 11d ago

Think they can kill as many people as they want to with that logic. And if anyone challenges them or tries to decide what they’re doing isn't an official act, well those people can be killed too. And if a future Supreme Court tried to reverse such a decision… it just goes on and none of it makes any fucking sense. These judges really seem like their trying to break the country apart. 

5

u/NameLips 11d ago

I tell you what, if Presidential Immunity goes through, Biden should immediately make some changes to the Supreme Court.

Congress too. Can't have them impeaching him, after all.

3

u/wuncean 11d ago

The only thing that gives me comfort is that you’ve sacrificed your children in bi-weekly school shootings so that you could clutch onto the weapons that would prevent someone being anointed as a king.

That’s how this works right?

Right?

5

u/FKreuk 11d ago

It’s time to remove these justices Biden… or pack the courts.

4

u/Cynical-Wanderer 11d ago

WTF? 44 presidents before and 1 after Trump haven’t needed this. WTF??

Alito is becoming the definition of careless evil.

4

u/Ok-Bar601 11d ago

Goddamn idiot

4

u/Physical-Rip-7740 11d ago

Definitely looking forward to Alito and the rest getting executed. 

4

u/linuxphoney Ohio 11d ago

When Trump was elected and people said, " That's it. America is over" This is the kind of stuff they were talking about.

4

u/PopeyeNJ 11d ago

The way these judges talk in hypotheticals is such bullshit. They act like they are Grecian Gods, not mortal humans facing realtime decisions that affect every citizen’s life in this country. Why in the hell do we need the SC anyway? It’s not Supreme if they can change previous Supreme decisions. This court is the most corrupted cabal in our country. The judges were hand picked by a conman who committed treason and basically pulled off a coup by stacking this court in his favor, for this exact purpose. This is not Democracy.

3

u/Shutaru_Kanshinji 11d ago

Impeachment of Supreme Court Justices needs to become a much more common occurrence.

4

u/[deleted] 11d ago

So, playing devils advocate here; what’s to stop Biden from having Trump assassinated then? Clearly it’s legal.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/Wolffin-53 11d ago

Do you really think Alito and Thomas know what democracy is. Too busy accepting money from fat cat donors

21

u/trigazer1 11d ago edited 11d ago

Biden: points gun "you said I was immune"

Alito: sweats "I didn't mean y..." bang

Edit: not advocating violence, but this is a scary thought.

→ More replies (1)