Commentary
Although the Supreme Court handed the Biden Administration a win this past week, Republicans won big in three cases with a major decision to come on Monday, reminding us again how important those Trump appointees to the Court were.
One for the Other Side …
The Court sided with the Biden Administration in a 6-3 decision allowing the federal government to contact social media companies to remove controversial content from their platforms.
It appears that the case was primarily centered on the federal government pressuring platforms in 2021 to restrict content about the Covid-19 vaccine, with little attention to the FBI meetings with platforms that influenced the 2020 election.
Justices Roberts, Kavanaugh and Barrett sided with the majority, citing insufficient evidence suggesting the platforms’ moderation efforts were due to government pressure. Justices Alito, Gorsuch and Thomas wrote the dissenting opinion, citing that “Government officials may not coerce private entities to suppress speech.”
… and Three for the Right
First, regular readers of this blog, with my criticism of unelected bureaucrats regulating how we should live, will understand my delight in reading the headline,” SCOTUS seems determined to dismantle the administrative state.”
I have written extensively on how bureaucrats establish and control the café standards on automobiles and trucks. The EPA has imposed outlandish miles-per-gallon goals designed to suppress combustion-driven cars and to pressure Americans to purchase electric vehicles.
The 6-3 decision overturns the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine that told judges to defer to agency interpretations of vague laws as long as they are “reasonable.”
Now regulators will have a harder time bending laws and Congress will have to legislate more clearly. The deference to regulators (bureaucrats) became “an impediment, rather than an aid, to accomplishing the basic judicial task.”
In a Another 6-3 decision favoring the right, the Court ruled that the Justice Department improperly charged some of the people who breached the Capitol on January 6, a decision that could affect hundreds of cases, where individuals were charged with obstruction when mere trespassing should have been made.
There are 27 people currently incarcerated and about 50 others who have been convicted and sentenced on that charge, who will undoubtedly be seeking justice.
Of course, this could potentially help former President Trump, with two of our charges he faces with the same overreaching on obstruction in the broad case assigned to Special Counsel Jack Smith, with the document retention issue.
The left, which regularly criticizes the Court for being ideologically right-oriented, may find it interesting that Justice Barrett dissented with Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, while the newly Biden appointed Justice Brown-Jackson joined the majority with Justices Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.
“The Court’s Friday decisions safeguard individual liberty against overreaching government. Isn’t that why the Founders fought the Revolution?” – Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
Earlier, the Court’s decision on preserving access to abortion pills, was supported by Trump during the recent debate.
The Major Decision Looms
The Court delayed its ruling on presidential immunity until Monday. You may recall my assumption that it did so as to not influence the debate because it will likely favor Trump in his opposition to the four-count indictment related to conspiracies “culminated and converged” on January 6.
You may recall that Trump and his attorneys, emphasizing the president’s singular role in the American system of government, argue that the commander-in-chief cannot function with the specter of potential prosecution for official acts.
“To ensure the president may serve unhesitatingly, without fear that his political opponents may one day prosecute him for decisions they dislike, the law provides absolute immunity,” his lawyers argue.
While the left, with a House Select Committee failing to nail Trump for insurrection on January 6, with Speaker Pelosi naming RINO Liz Cheney as its co-chair, we are now learning that the Republican House members attempting to re-litigate the case have found that the left has destroyed or lost documents dealing with their case.
Trump, who has insisted that he encouraged a peaceful, patriotic protest on January 6, got good news with the Court’s decision on the use of “obstruction” against Trump supporters, discussed in paragraph nine.
Hundreds of supporters were jailed for extended periods on weak charges like trespassing. During the debate, Trump brought shame on what the judicial system had done “to some people that are so innocent,” suggesting “you have to be ashamed of what you have done – how you’ve destroyed the lives of so many people.”
What to Expect Monday
If the Court rejects Trump’s immunity claim his prosecution will proceed with a trial expected to begin in about three months, as voters go to the polls.
However, if the Court rules broadly for Trump, his prosecution on federal election interference could come to an end. And it is believed that Trump will use that ruling to seek dismissal in the Georgia case.
I understand the Court has taken the extra time on the immunity case to fashion a legal standard for assessing what official conduct fall in or outside the realm of prosecution.
I have a feeling Special Counsel Smith won’t be happy. A Court ruling that favors Trump, along with Judge Aileen Cannon reviewing his unconstitutional naming as special counsel, surely weighs heavily on his mind. That’s just fine with me.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
