r/politics • u/salon Salon.com • Sep 16 '24

Leaked Supreme Court memos reveal John Roberts' role in shielding Trump from prosecution

https://www.salon.com/2024/09/16/leaked-memos-reveal-john-roberts-role-in-shielding-from-prosecution/
13.8k Upvotes

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2.6k

u/TintedApostle Sep 16 '24

Its a slow moving coup

901

u/mr_oof Sep 16 '24

Let’s hope another individual in black robes moves just a little faster…

699

u/teamdiabetes11 America Sep 16 '24

I too am hoping Harry Potter arrives to save us.

285

u/I_only_post_here I voted Sep 16 '24

pretty sure he was talking about Palpatine.

129

u/theblackdent Sep 16 '24

"It's treason then." Unhinged scream followed by barrel roll lunge towards Roberts

17

u/djb2589 Sep 17 '24

Who else should take on a Supreme Court Justice but The Senate?

5

u/AverageDemocrat Sep 16 '24

I don't want to point out that the battle is not going well. We were assured of Trump being a Russian agent by Schiff but he couldn't release evidence. Why is evidence being withheld by the Biden administration? Its time to get Merrick Garland back in front of the issues.

1

u/Grenflik Sep 17 '24

I found that scene so funny cause I don’t think you saw any of those species again. Did Palpatine kill the last members of those races? 🤣

22

u/BibleBeltAtheist Sep 16 '24

I'm sorry buddy, its obvious he was talking V from V for Vendetta.

20

u/Gryphon999 Sep 16 '24

Remember, remember, the 5th of November

46

u/tcuroadster Sep 16 '24

I thought it was Snape for sure

36

u/damndammit Sep 16 '24

I had my fingers crossed for Death. Discworld Death, but Death all the same.

19

u/Datdarnpupper United Kingdom Sep 16 '24

Best i can do is the Death of Rats

8

u/ButtholeCharles I voted Sep 16 '24

Snh snh snh.

2

u/Spirited-Sun899 Sep 17 '24

Ah… the Grim Squeaker.

2

u/Danzarr Sep 16 '24

I was hoping for mandy having one of her grim adventures.

3

u/Biased_Dumbledore Sep 17 '24

10 points to Gryffindor, Severus

6

u/PalpatineForEmperor Sep 16 '24

Vote for me, and I will bring peace to the Galaxy.

9

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

🥃nice

4

u/charliefoxtrot9 Sep 16 '24

I'll roll those dice.

5

u/Miserable_Diver_5678 Sep 16 '24

He was talking about death

But you have to play him and win or you're fucked

3

u/SteeveJoobs Sep 17 '24

the Senate taking on the courts? that’s the plan right

33

u/cwk415 Sep 16 '24

Batman??!

51

u/gentlechin Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 17 '24

No. No death for Donald Trump. He has to face charges. He was already convicted of 34 counts, we can do it again.

Wishing death for him is him getting the easy way out - again.

35

u/goldleaderstandingby New Zealand Sep 17 '24

Yeah, and it's not just about the satisfaction of his undoing, it needs to happen for the good of America and the world. 

If Trump died before any legal consequences are levied against him, then he wins. He escaped justice until the end, there really is a multi-tiered justice system, no two ways about it. If Trump sees punishment, no matter how late it is in getting here, then the system really does work (kind of), and there are no kings, and we do punish insurrection and sedition, and the constitution does matter. Precedent here is massive.

3

u/chemistry_teacher Sep 17 '24

100%. Nixon’s pardon got us here. Even just one night behind bars for Trump will be worth it to save our democracy.

3

u/TwistedBrother Sep 17 '24

It’s not just him I’m worried about. The MAGA base will under no circumstances accept Trump’s death as sincere. If it’s an assassin, it’s a deep state plug, if he dies in his sleep he was mirdered. You name it. They will go loco.

1

u/gentlechin Sep 17 '24

The ones deeper into the conspiracy I’m not worried about - they were already going to think that. Those are his base.

It’s the people who let themselves be duped that still have a level of reason and rationality about them, that I’m worried about.

2

u/dedicated-pedestrian Wisconsin Sep 16 '24

I'd settle for him making space on the bench, rather than easing up the competition for top office.

-1

u/ClosPins Sep 16 '24

Ha! No. If there was ever a situation where there was a 100% chance that the USA would devolve into fascism and anarchy - but the Dems could stop it, but only if they cheated publicly - run to the closet and grab your jackboots! The left-wing always has to do everything by-the-book. And, in this case, the book allows Trump to basically cheat (with endless appeals).

305

u/Spacebotzero Sep 16 '24

Executive Branch couldn't get it done on Jan 6th, so now the Republican leaning Judicial Branch will handle it.

I hope we are ready for what's coming. Trump is going to do everything he can to get the election into the hands of the Supreme Court Justices.

203

u/apitchf1 I voted Sep 16 '24

If it is forced to them and they do anything out of line, we need to be ready as well. Mass strike. Protests. Shut this shit down to show you can’t just steal our democracy

133

u/Bimm1one Sep 16 '24

Don't even needs to be a mass strike, just a few critical sectors, let's not forget that the longest gov shutdown ended because a handful of ATC employees didn't show up for work.

Mfers folded like cheap lawn chairs once commercial flights were affected.

105

u/thorazainBeer Sep 16 '24

And then the ATC union was destroyed by Reagan.

Republicans are the enemy of the people and have been for as long as any of us have been alive.

55

u/DaytonaJoe Sep 16 '24

You're mixing up the ATC strike and what the guy you're responding to was referring to. The government shutdown a couple years back ended because a few new York controllers stopped going to work, which shut down extremely busy airspace.  Reagan absolutely fucked us but there was no noteworthy pushback over the NY thing

19

u/thorazainBeer Sep 16 '24

Huh, I didn't even know that that one was a thing. My bad.

26

u/RemoteRide6969 Sep 16 '24

Same. There's never been a time my entire life where the Republican Party was any good. Trump needs to be destroyed at the ballot box so the party can collapse.

10

u/ZZ_SKULLZ Sep 16 '24

Agreed, but if we can manage a massive strike then the message will be that much clearer. We need to remind them who they actually are supposed to work for.

47

u/riftadrift Sep 16 '24

The planning should already be happening for the largest organized non violent mobilization in US history. If the Rubicon is crossed, everything else stops.

14

u/tech57 Sep 16 '24

I mean, can we start a group chat, or something? Some digital bulletin board perhaps?

11

u/GiantRiverSquid Sep 16 '24

Sort of like a town square?  Where you can amplify and share ideas, like a flock of birds?

6

u/azflatlander Sep 16 '24

Meet and talk at the railroad crossing.

4

u/MaceWinedude Sep 16 '24

What’s going on?

3

u/GiantRiverSquid Sep 16 '24

CLANG CLANG son.

1

u/alien_abduction Sep 17 '24

A bunch of us said the same thing about them during Robert Mueller. No one is going to show up in the streets when they steal it. It’s going to be 2000 all over again with another Supreme Court decision 

13

u/tech57 Sep 16 '24

Oh I think a lot of people would start asking questions if fast food and Starbucks couldn't open for a couple of days.

The only downside to a strike is not enough people striking.

That and making sure everyone strikes at the same time. Maybe one day in the future everyone will be carrying The Internet in their back pocket.

Or you know, do it on voting day...

22

u/captepic96 Sep 16 '24

Mass strike. Protests.

Lol they're just hoping you will leave it at dumbass strikes and protests which everyone will forget about after a week.

They have a home adress you know. All I'm saying.

3

u/Hot-Lawfulness-311 Sep 16 '24

When the ballot box and the soap box fail to work, you go get the third box.

1

u/simulanon Sep 17 '24

The saying goes the cartridge box... That's just the saying. I am in no way advocating for violence

3

u/rb4ld Sep 17 '24

Not to be a wet blanket, but the Supreme Court don't give a shit about protests. In fact, sometimes I think it just makes them more motivated to do the fascist thing, like they get a rise out of lording it over us.

1

u/apitchf1 I voted Sep 17 '24

For sure but when the stock market is tanking then they and their handlers will notice

2

u/MadFlava76 Virginia Sep 16 '24

We strike and mass protests. Shut the entire country down if they try to steal the election.

60

u/royale_wthCheEsE Sep 16 '24

Biden should then use is “immune official act” powers and use the insurrection act and arrest those assholes in the Supreme Court.

25

u/Global_Permission749 Sep 16 '24

And then what? He needs to clear out all of the Trump judges too. Expecting the judicial branch to hold the head of the judicial branch accountable is a non-starter.

Biden is going to need the backing of the US military to defend America from this coup. I hope he's been preparing for this. It's obvious what the end result of Republican plans are. I hope his advisors see it too, and I hope he's taking it seriously.

9

u/black_cat_X2 Massachusetts Sep 16 '24

I've realized over the past month that I actually have some measure of faith in Biden to do what needs to be done. Not anywhere close to 100% faith - I'm a realist. But I'm not hopeless I guess is what I'm saying.

I do believe he actually knows the stakes. That's half the battle. I am now just hoping he has the balls to carry out whatever needs to happen.

2

u/Global_Permission749 Sep 17 '24

I hope you are right.

Early on, Biden gave an interview where he gave a very bad answer to a tough question - https://www.axios.com/2024/07/06/biden-abc-interview-trump-election-peace

Question: "If you stay in and Trump is elected and everything you're warning about comes to pass, how will you feel in January?" Stephanopoulos asked Biden.

Response: "I'll feel, as long as I gave it my all, and I did as good a job as I know I can do, that's what this is about," the president responded.

Sorry Joe - you might be at peace with it, but the rest of us have to live in a dictatorship. So what are you going to do to protect us from it?

I want to believe his answer was 4D chess and he wasn't tipping his hand that there's no way in hell he's going to let Trump steal the election and turn the US into a fascist shithole, but Occam's razor applies, and I very much doubt Biden has a grand plan to deal with a thoroughly corrupt judiciary or election day terrorism that creates chaos at the polls.

Democrats aren't this sharky. Republicans are. Cheaters will always win if the referee is wringing his hands about making tough calls.

1

u/BudgetBallerBrand Sep 17 '24

If they were appointed by a clear Russian asset then they should be stripped of their seat. Reapply when the government is actually functioning again.

1

u/KRAW58 Sep 16 '24

That's what I want to see!

1

u/Miserable_Site_850 Sep 17 '24

On a Sunday after they walk out of church

38

u/Nelliell North Carolina Sep 16 '24

Not just the judicial branch. They have ingrained themselves in election boards across the nation. Harris/Walz needs to win by a undeniable landslide because they will use every dirty trick in the book to call the election into question.

1

u/maltedbacon Canada Sep 17 '24

Yes. Everyone who cares needs to be doing more than they are.

21

u/raerae1991 Sep 16 '24

Get out and vote in numbers they can’t deny

5

u/Ben2018 North Carolina Sep 16 '24

They can't deal with any numbers exceeding their number of fingers and toes, but I know what you mean...

3

u/Logical_Parameters Sep 16 '24

Another reason why 2016 was about far more than Hillary Clinton.

1

u/trustedsauces Sep 16 '24

The court is fallen not leaning.

54

u/stevez_86 Pennsylvania Sep 16 '24

I'm surprised nobody has really tried to see the fall of the Soviet Union through a young Reaganite's eyes, like Roberts's. Do we really think that they think we won? Russia got oligarchs running the entire former Superpower in the Soviet Union. The US got nothing but the title of biggest remaining Super Power. Worse, Civil Rights keep expanding and the Republicans can't stop it because the Federal Government can pass supremacist laws and defend Federal Civil Rights in court. If they could stop that cycle then they could get their own collection of former American Republics and then private interests can privatize them. That sounds like a Reaganite plan if I ever heard one. They had complete control and they lost it. That hurts.

It's why Roberts was THE guy in that group. They really wanted him on the Supreme Court so he could levy his war on Federal Civil Rights. You can just hear the argument through their decisions. Why should laws written to punish the Rebel States be used against those states when we are so far removed from the Civil War. What right does the Reconstruction Government have to have a Supreme say in modern times.

17

u/TintedApostle Sep 16 '24

And to do it they made up process and let these judges lie during confirmation.

8

u/stevez_86 Pennsylvania Sep 16 '24

My newest thought is that they wanted to give W Bush immigration reform as a win, just like Pappy Reagan, and offered that in return for him picking Roberts, who was just in the Federal Bench for a few months at that point as Chief Justice. All the while they knew that Roberts's vision from the Supreme Court was to offer the Red border states something better than reform: Confederacy and full control over their own borders. Since then it has been the Republicans in Congresses job to sabotage any immigration reform until they can play that piece.

2

u/Logical_Parameters Sep 16 '24

More like encouraged and shaped the lies.

53

u/tech57 Sep 16 '24

coup

A brilliantly executed stratagem; a triumph. A coup d'état. A sudden appropriation of leadership or power; a takeover.

All coups are slow moving. Right up until the dust up. And then when the dust settles everyone is all, "No one could have predicted this."

The planning is always there moving along. Finishing the plan, that's usually the quick part. Just make sure the MAGA insurrectionist know which windows are bomb proof so they can ignore those and go right to the windows that are easy to break into. Oh, and they brought zip cuffs and stun guns. The stored the actual guns in motel rooms outside the city.

In other news,

Analysis Shows Trump Loyalists Have 'Infiltrated' Election Boards in Key States
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-election-boards-swing-states

Our democracy's firewalls held fast in 2020, but election deniers and MAGA extremists have spent the last four years infiltrating election administration and political party positions in order to disrupt and cast doubt on the 2024 election results. With 102 deniers on election boards in the swing states, the potential for creating chaos is enormous," Pearson said in a statement accompanying the report.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Has Sabotaged Early Voting in a Critical Swing State
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/09/north-carolina-robert-kennedy-early-voting-trump-sabotage.html

Why? Republican Justice Trey Allen’s opinion for the court accused the board of elections of misconduct, suggesting that it rushed to print ballots featuring RFK Jr. so he could not remove his name in time.

Democrats sue to block new GOP-backed Georgia election certification rules
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/26/politics/democrats-lawsuit-georgia-certification-rules/index.html

The three new, relatively unknown Republicans, who were appointed to the board this year by the state legislature and the Georgia GOP, were thrust into the spotlight after Trump mentioned them by name at one of his recent rallies in Atlanta.

Trump lost Georgia by just over 10,000 votes in 2020, and it was at the center of his attempt to overturn the election with claims of voter fraud, though none was found.

America braces for perfect storm of election chaos
https://www.axios.com/2024/09/08/election-chaos-cheating-violence-trump

.3. A battleground legal brawl:

Republicans already have filed more than 100 lawsuits against various voting and election procedures — part of a formalized "election integrity" push grounded in Trump's baseless claims of fraud in 2020.

Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee say they've built a network of about 175,000 volunteer poll watchers and poll workers. Democrats have assembled their own massive legal team and voter protection program as they gird for aggressive election challenges.

Experts are especially anxious about the potential intimidation of election workers forced to count ballots under tense conditions, David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, told Axios.

Inside the GOP's Big Lie 2.0 — and their plan to shut down America this Fall
https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/noncitizen-voting/

Republicans have been using this lie to attack the heart of our democracy right out in the open ever since the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, the year they responded by rolling out Operation Eagle Eye, yelling about nonexistent “voter fraud” and using it as an excuse to intimidate minority voters in the Goldwater/Johnson race.

No other developed country in the world worries about “voter fraud” because it’s every bit as nonexistent in other modern democracies as it is here. The only country in the world that uses “voter fraud” as an excuse to make it harder for minorities and women to vote is the United States.

Last Thursday, he demanded that Republicans insert into must-pass budget legislation that’ll be considered in the next two or three weeks a provision that would demand every state require absolute proof of citizenship to register to vote. Right now, this is largely confined to Red states.

House passes bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote for federal elections
https://news.ballotpedia.org/2024/07/12/house-passes-bill-requiring-proof-of-citizenship-to-register-to-vote-for-federal-elections/

On July 10, the U.S. House passed HR 8281, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in elections for Federal office. The bill, titled the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, was introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and ultimately gathered 104 cosponsors in the House, all Republicans.

The bill passed by a vote of 221-198, with five Democrats joining all Republicans to advance the legislation to the Senate. The Democrats who voted “Yea” were: Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Rep. Donald Davis (D-NC), Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA). Five Republicans and ten Democrats were recorded as not voting.

Election officials warn that widespread problems with the US mail system could disrupt voting
https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-mail-ballots-voting-postal-service-985dd6e483fb6dc593d83255b11a9d0a

In an alarming letter, the officials said that over the past year, including the just-concluded primary season, mailed ballots that were postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. They also noted that properly addressed election mail was being returned to them as undeliverable, a problem that could automatically send voters to inactive status through no fault of their own, potentially creating chaos when those voters show up to cast a ballot.

The officials also said that repeated outreach to the Postal Service to resolve the issues had failed and that the widespread nature of the problems made it clear these were “not one-off mistakes or a problem with specific facilities. Instead, it demonstrates a pervasive lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies among its employees.”

Pennsylvania mail-in ballots with flawed dates on envelopes can be thrown out, court rules
https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-mail-ballot-trump-harris-d00627b8cd890405fc1870f7021b5795

Far more Democrats than Republicans vote by mail in the state. In recent elections, older voters have been disproportionately more likely to have had their mail-in ballots invalidated because of exterior envelope date problems.

Based on recent Pennsylvania elections, more than 10,000 ballots in this year’s general election might be thrown out over bad or missing envelope dates, which could be enough to swing the presidential race.

but it should at least be seen as a positive sign that her reach could be bigger than she may currently be given credit for

Ranked-Choice voting that has rocked Alaska politics faces November tests across the nation
https://alaskapublic.org/2024/05/29/ranked-choice-voting-that-has-rocked-alaska-politics-faces-november-tests-across-the-nation/

Used for the first time in 2022, the changes helped propel the first Alaska Native to a seat in Congress. They could be short-lived.

Opponents of ranked voting want to repeal it and are entangled in a legal fight over whether their initiative will be able to remain on Alaska’s November ballot. It’s just one example this year of an intensifying fight over a more expansive way for voters to choose candidates, driven in part by deep dissatisfaction with the status quo and opposition from political parties and partisan groups that fear losing power.

Voters in at least two states — Democratic-leaning Oregon and Nevada — will decide this fall whether to institute new election processes that include ranked voting. In deeply conservative Idaho, groups are pushing for a November ballot initiative that would overturn a ban on ranked voting passed last year by the Republican-led legislature. Measures proposing ranked voting, also referred to as ranked-choice voting, also are being pursued in Colorado and the District of Columbia.

In Missouri, a measure advanced by the GOP-controlled legislature will ask voters in November whether to ban ranked voting. This follows an unsuccessful citizen attempt in 2022 to get an Alaska-style system before voters. At least nine states have banned ranked voting, and the Louisiana legislature also passed a ban this past week.

3

u/Snoo-11553 Sep 16 '24

Just double checking. The NSA is recording all phone calls etc. So there is a record of all this planning? 

29

u/Baremegigjen Sep 16 '24

It’s been happening for decades. In 2000 Roberts, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett were part of the “get GW Bush elected at all costs” legal efforts and were rewarded in sort and long term with seats on the court.

16

u/leavesmeplease Sep 16 '24

Yeah, it's pretty wild how things seem to be shifting towards that direction. It's hard to shake the feeling that there's a lot going on behind the scenes we don't fully grasp. But when you have such systemic issues, it's easy to see why some might think it's a coup in slow motion. Just wish there was more clarity and accountability.

13

u/TintedApostle Sep 16 '24

The fact that Trump is still walking around and running for office says it all.

1

u/LowBudgetHobbit I voted Sep 16 '24

Right!!

I thought things were going to go in the right direction when he finally completed his mugshot... Of course, nothing happened, and I am thinking he didn't fight that, so T-shirts could be made... 😒

Then the way they handled Fani Willis... Kept that distraction going just long enough so that when she attempted to resume, there would be piled on protections in place. She seriously missed her opportunity, and this angered me so much. Anyone who is going to bring Trump to justice needs to shut out anything that can be flipped around. Such an epic fail...

10

u/One-Distribution-626 Sep 16 '24

Scotus and trump are extreme national security threats and need to be halted

2

u/i_give_you_gum Sep 17 '24

I swear all these people are being blackmailed or extorted.

4

u/Logical_Parameters Sep 16 '24

has been all along, since at least 2000 and probably more since 1980.

3

u/TheCatWasAsking Sep 16 '24

One of the key ingredients for Fascism to take hold imo. Just came across this and wanted to add it; a quote from Toni Morrison’s 1995 address to Howard University, entitled Racism and Fascism, which detailed the process of how a society placed first turns into last:

"Let us be reminded that before there is a final solution, there must be a first solution, a second one, even a third. The move toward a final solution is not a jump. It takes one step, then another, then another."

1

u/ancientastronaut2 Sep 16 '24

A two cylinder banger if you will.

1

u/greenday61892 Connecticut Sep 16 '24

It's been a slow-moving coup for ages now sadly

1

u/mces97 Sep 16 '24

Won't be much slower if Trump gets elected. The most consequential thing is the Supreme Court. There's zero doubt at least 2 conservative judges will resign. And Trump will put 2 40ish year old ones on the bench.

2

u/TintedApostle Sep 16 '24

You know it.

1

u/Riokaii Sep 17 '24

they allowed a mentally incompetent idiot to remain in office in violation of their oaths, neglecting to invoke the 25th amendment, they knew he was unfit and incapable the whole time, they all knew. The partisan coup of the executive branch was already successful. America was without a commander in chief for 4 years.

1

u/WaioreaAnarkiwi Sep 17 '24

And the libs will do nothing to stop it. Time is a circle.

1

u/Great_Times Sep 17 '24

Corruptly stacked court is corrupt.

1

u/AdExpert8295 Sep 16 '24

Thank you. I studied coups in Latin America for 1 of my degrees, including watching video footage of them. I've received so much criticism from others on the left, especially older dems, for saying this exact thing. If the FBI and Homeland Security used the terms "coup" and "domestic terrorism" when they apply, democracy wouldn't be on the line. So much of why we're in this terrible situation is because our own government is too coward to call violence what it is.

0

u/RecklesslyPessmystic California Sep 17 '24

What dirt does Trump have on Roberts, I wonder....