Sorry if this is not the proper community for this question. Please let me know if I should post this question elsewhere.

So like, I’m not trying to be hyperbolic or jump on some conspiracy theory crap, but this seems like very troubling news to me. My entire life, I’ve been under the impression that no one is technically/officially above the law in the US, especially the president. I thought that was a hard consensus among Americans regardless of party. Now, SCOTUS just made the POTUS immune to criminal liability.

The president can personally violate any law without legal consequences. They also already have the ability to pardon anyone else for federal violations. The POTUS can literally threaten anyone now. They can assassinate anyone. They can order anyone to assassinate anyone, then pardon them. It may even grant complete immunity from state laws because if anyone tries to hold the POTUS accountable, then they can be assassinated too. This is some Putin-level dictator stuff.

I feel like this is unbelievable and acknowledge that I may be wayyy off. Am I misunderstanding something?? Do I need to calm down?

  • sorghum
    560·
    6 months ago

    This isn’t a Democrat vs Republican issue. Obama drone strike killed an American without due process. This is an authoritarian vs libertarian issue.

    • bassomitron@lemmy.worldEnglish
      381·
      6 months ago

      This is absolutely a GOP issue. They’re the ones doing all of this and also the only ones pushing to go further. The example you used isn’t even close to the same league as what’s being discussed: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Abdulrahman_al-Awlaki

      Was it fucked up the kid got killed by a CIA-ordered air strike? Absolutely. But it’s not nearly as black and white as you make it out to be and is a far cry different than what is now possible for a US president to do based on the SCOTUS ruling last week.

        • bassomitron@lemmy.worldEnglish
          41·
          6 months ago

          Possibly. The SCOTUS ruling essentially kicked it down to lower courts to decide what’s an official act or not. Trump installed a ton of judges across the country to various federal courts. It could easily backfire on Biden if he tried anything.

      • sorghum
        413·
        6 months ago

        That’s my point. If it isn’t good when this power is available to the president if you don’t like then (or anyone in government for that matter) then they shouldn’t have that power. This is absolutely about removing power from the authorities.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
      221·
      6 months ago

      Your first sentence was right. This ISN’T democrat vs republican issue.

      But the rest of your message is straight hot garbage.

      This is a “united states as it always has operated, republican or democrat, or other parties that existed in the past” vs “united states becoming facist” issue.

        • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
          131·
          6 months ago

          Ah yes, totally comparable to a president assassinating his political rival on US soil. Great comment!

          • sorghum
            38·
            6 months ago

            Political rival doesn’t mean anything. This ruling means any president will get away with it and we’ll likely need a constitutional amendment to fix. Hopefully ending qualified immunity would eliminate it.

            • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
              4·
              6 months ago

              Any president can get away with it, but only one party’s candidates will actually do it.

              The party that put these fascist judges on the bench will do it, in case that wasn’t obvious.

              • sorghum
                16·
                6 months ago

                If you think it’s the Democrats that’ll fix it, I have a bridge to sell you.

                  • sorghum
                    13·
                    6 months ago

                    That’s still a naive take. It’s one thing I’ve noticed in this world is that most everyone is fine with authoritarianism so long as it’s their team/side/tribe/party calling the shots. It’s still giving power to people that shouldn’t have it and all it accomplishes is that they can and will step harder on you and keep you under their boot.

    • gravitas_deficiencyEnglish
      4·
      6 months ago

      Stop it. Now is not the time. You’re intentionally failing to recognize that we are, in a very real and imminent sense, staring the possible collapse of democracy in the US in the face.