Hand It Over

 You gotta hand it to Donald Trump. 

No. Really. You have to hand it to Donald Trump. The Supreme Court just decided. They voted, as is their way. The vote came back six to three. The six conservative justices voted that you have to hand it to Donald Trump. The three liberal judges voted that you did not have to hand it to Donald Trump. 

What do you have to hand to Donald Trump? In short, he was handed immunity from prosecution for any actions that were within his constitutional powers as president. What sort of surprise is it that three of the votes coming for immunity came from the judges that Donald Trump appointed? 

No surprise at all. This is the same group that got together to overturn the decades old Chevron Deference, a decision which means federal judges no longer need to defer to the expertise of agencies on how to interpret ambiguous language in laws pertaining to their work. Agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. The ones who would like us to have clean air and groups like the Food and Drug Administration that oversees healthy food and drugs. 

You gotta hand it to Donald Trump. 

The same group also decided with a vote along identical lines that people accused of fraud by the SEC, which regulates securities markets, have the right to a jury trial in federal court. The Securities Exchange Commission's capacity to battle fraud and other irregularities has been set back decades. Who do we know who would benefit from such a ruling? 

You gotta hand it to Donald Trump.

And this immunity thing. Who stands to gain from that? The guy who stole classified documents from the White House? The one who urged his redcaps on to "fight like hell" on January Sixth? 

If you guessed the same guy who likes to brag that he "killed Roe versus Wade," then enjoy the moment. Keeping in mind that the President of the United States is the one who selects the judges for the Supreme Court. 

Please don't hand it to Donald Trump.