“At bottom, former President Trump’s stance would collapse our system of separated powers by placing the President beyond the reach of all three Branches,” the court wrote.
In a wholly unsurprising decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has denied Donald Trump’s attempt to claim total immunity for all actions he took leading up to and during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
In their ruling, the court makes a valid, if obvious, point. But in that point is a warning to us all, intentionally written that way or not. The court stated:
“At bottom, former President Trump’s stance would collapse our system of separated powers by placing the President beyond the reach of all three Branches,” the court wrote. “Presidential immunity against federal indictment would mean that, as to the President, the Congress could not legislate, the Executive could not prosecute and the Judiciary could not review. We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter.”
Imagine the former president is reelected, installs a stooge as his attorney general, who is loyal to and protective of him, and has enough senators to shield him from any conviction during impeachment.
What happens then is exactly what the court wrote above—a president who is above all three branches and untouchable. In Trump’s words: “Total immunity.
