This blog isn’t about the case about Trump appearing on the ballots in Colorado and Maine. It’s about the Jack Smith case regarding Trump’s claim that he can’t be prosecuted for anything he did because he had presidential immunity. Most of what I’ve been learning is that the Supreme Court is likely to take the ballot case.

These are the current justices of the DC Appeals Court (scroll left to read):

Wikipedia tells us:

The D.C. Court of Appeals is the equivalent of a state supreme court. Because the District of Columbia is not a U.S. state, however, the court’s authority derives from the U.S. Congress rather than from the inherent sovereignty of the states.

As reported in RawStory on MSNBC former U.S. Attorney Carol Lam stated she didn’t see the Supreme Court interested in stepping into the fight between Donald Trump and his lawyers with special counsel Jack Smith over whether the former president has wide-ranging immunity from being charged with crimes.

“What I think the Supreme Court may be thinking is, we are going to let the appellate court consider the issue first, and they’ve set a very expedited briefing and argument schedule for this,” she began. “They’re going to hear this argument in mid-January. So, if the Supreme Court or the majority of the Supreme Court fundamentally agrees with whatever the D.C. Circuit says, they may just decide not to take the case up in the Supreme Court, and just let the District of Columbia Appeals Court opinion stand.”

“That way the Supreme Court will not have to actually render the ultimate decision on this case; they can just decline to take the case up and then they can leave for another day, deciding this particular issue as to the scope of presidential immunity,” she continued. “But I do think that Jack Smith has the better argument because he’s raised a number of potential scenarios that would be very problematic if a president could do anything he wanted with respect to trying to stay in office and could not be prosecuted for those things.”

Wikipedia explains:

Cases before the court are determined by randomly selected three-judge divisions, unless a hearing or rehearing before the court sitting en banc (with all judges present) is ordered.

Wikipedia

I haven’t found out whether a three judge panel or the entire court will be deciding the Trump case. However, consider that if it is a three judge panel randomly selected there is only one Trump appointee on the court. The other justice appointed by a Republican was apppointed by George W. Bush so even if the two judges appointed by Repubicans hear the case only one might be in the bag to Trump, and even this wouldn’t be a certainty.

Considering that the DC Appeals Court is nothing like the Supreme Court as far as being heavily weighted towards far-right ideology and inclined to bend the Constitution into a MAGA pretzel it does seem that there is a good chance they will make a sensible ruling and decide that no president has absolute immunity. This would be a huge blow upending Trump’s imperial claim that as president no law applied to him.

To varying degrees the Republican members of the Supreme Court have demonstrated a stellar level of arrogance. They don’t think they are above the actual law (remembering that there’s no law of ethics) in the sense that they think they could rob a bank and be immune from prosecution.

In addtion to the murky (to them) area of ethics they also seem to varying degrees to believe they are not only members of the highest court in the land which could have simply been named The High Court but unfortunately was called the highfalutin Supreme Court.

In my view there is only one group worthy of having called themselves Supremes, the Motown Supremes. They wore evening gowns. Wikipedia tells us that:

The Supremes deliberately embraced a more glamorous image than previous black performers. Much of this was accomplished at the behest of Motown chief Berry Gordy and Maxine Powell, who ran Motown’s in-house finishing school and Artist Development department. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Ross sang in a thin, calm voice, and her vocal styling was matched by having all three women embellish their femininity instead of imitate the qualities of male groups. Eschewing plain appearances and basic dance routines, the Supremes appeared onstage in detailed make-up and high-fashion gowns and wigs, and performed graceful choreography created by Motown choreographer Cholly Atkins. Powell told the group to “be prepared to perform before kings and queens.” Gordy wanted the Supremes, like all of his performers, to be equally appealing to black and white audiences.

Wikipedia

Diana Ross is the only surviving member of The Supremes. She’s a Democrat. Unfortunately that Supreme won’t be ruling on the Trump case.

Jack Smith has an excellent case noting all the things that a president could do if he was immune from prosecution from taking bribes to at the extreme ordering the assasination of poltical opponents.

My question is whether the Republican members of the Supreme Court will allow the members of the DC Court of Appeals to have the final say in the presidential immunity case because they don’t want to touch this with a mile long pole or will they in their arrogance decide to have the final word, and then how far they will go in their loyalty to Trump even if it means ruling that there’s no difference between the United States and ruthless dictatorships.

Read previous Stressline blogs here.