Donald Trump and his lawyers, personal and his Justice Department ‘s are standing on the view that Trump as President IS above any and ALL laws…
It will be up the nation’s highest court pass judgement ….
The courts isn’t political, BUT?
Trump HAS chosen and put a couple in the job….
BTW?
Some are worried that even IF the court was to come down against Trump?
He wouldn’t listen ….
As the Supreme Court of the United States convened the first Monday of this month, there was talk of big cases involving abortion, guns, gay rights, immigration, perhaps even affirmative action.
Another issue may trump all of them; it’s a terrible pun, but multiple cases affecting Donald Trump‘s unprecedented claims of personal and presidential prerogatives may affect this court and American politics for years to come.
Two justices, in particular, would feel the heat: Chief Justice John Roberts, often the swing man as the court moves to the right, and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, barely confirmed last year after charges of sexual misconduct, and depicted by critics as a Trump lackey.
The cases that could reach the court include: the House of Representatives and — separately — New York prosecutors seeking financial and tax records from his accountant; the House Ways and Means committee getting his tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service; and the House trying to enforce subpoenas for testimony and information that are central to the impeachment inquiry.
More than Richard Nixon or any other President, Trump is stonewalling at every step.
The first case reaching the Supreme Court may be whether his accounting firm must turn over his financial records to Congress and the Manhattan prosecutor. Trump is vehemently resisting. A federal appeals court has already ruled against the president on the House request.
The New York investigation was triggered by charges from the president’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, that Trump paid off a former mistress to buy her silence during the 2016 campaign.
In response, Trump’s lawyers have made a sweeping claim that a sitting president — any sitting president — cannot so much as be investigated while in office.
In fact, Trump’s lawyer told the astonished panel that even if Trump followed through on one of his more famous bragging points and in fact shot someone “in the middle of 5th Ave.,” he couldn’t even be investigated — as long as he was president.
Previously, a Justice Department opinion said that an incumbent president cannot be indicted — though that’s never been legally tested.
But the notion that a president can’t even be investigated is stunning. Under that theory, there would have been no Watergate investigation. That flies in the face of earlier decisions. In 1997, the Supreme court ruled unanimously that Bill Clinton could not delay a civil suit against him until he was out of office.
In this Trump case, a federal judge had pointedly rejected Trump’s claim as “repugnant” — and that case is on appeal now.
If the court of appeals in New York upholds that ruling the president likely will appeal both decisions to the U.S. Supreme Court. One way out for the High Court is to refuse to hear the appeals. That will infuriate the right wing….