Monday 1 July 2024

The US Supreme Court has fudged it. Surprise surprise!

The warning signs have been around for weeks. Instead of coming up with a precise, absolutely clear, historically sensible ruling that, like all fellow citizens, the president of the United States should never be above the law, six of the nine judges on the US Supreme Court have decided that immunity from prosecution can be justified where a president has been performing his official duties. As one dissenting judge put it, the president can now be "a king above the law". It's staggering but not surprising. The three dissenting judges said it was a bad day for democracy. Or to put it another way, it's a great day for Trump. Now the trials in which he is accused of interfering in the results of the 2020 election will nbe delayed while lower courts try to come to terms with the gobbledegook ruling and attempt to work out how it affects the crimes with which Trump has been charged. This can only happen in the US of A. I cannot for one moment imagine the judges on the UK Supreme Court ever saying that political leaders should enjoy immunity from prosecution if they try to interfere with a democratic process. Trump will see the ruling as a boost to his election prospects. Whatever happens next the ruling will mean there is only the tiniest chance the key trials will be held before the November election. So if he wins he will have all the leeyway he needs to postpone the trials for ever, or at least while he is in office. America's democracy has just been tarnished.

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