Donald Trump’s lawyer pushed an outrageous line of thinking on Thursday during oral arguments at the Supreme Court over whether the former president has immunity for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election: that a U.S. president could order a military coup d’état with almost no chance of repercussions.
Justice Elena Kagan asked lawyer John Sauer about a hypothetical president who “ordered the military to stage a coup.”
“He’s no longer president. He wasn’t impeached, he couldn’t be impeached, but he ordered the military to stage a coup, and you’re saying that’s an official act?” she asked.
“I think it would depend on the circumstances whether it was an official act,” Sauer replied. “If it’s an official act, there needs to be impeachment and conviction before [criminal charges could be pursued].”
In response to other questions from the justices, Sauer defended a hypothetical political assassination ordered by an American president, the argument that sank Trump’s case in the D.C. circuit.
It’s amazing how all these strict constructionist conservative justices who believe in in the Constitution exactly as it’s written and Justice Alito who believes in things that have been enshrined in our traditions and history are all so willing to make this huge change based on fucking nothing. With 200 years of presidents not needing this, 44 presidential precedence, and nothing even remotely resembling this in the Constitution and yet these pillars of constitutional Theory abandon everything. Of course they’ve done that like two dozen times in the last 3 years already so ain’t nothing new I guess.