by Lawrence Pareles
Imagine if, in another country, the former president who attempted a government takeover was shielded by judges he appointed. His supporters attacked the Capitol to stop certifying the election. Now running for office again, his judges grant him total immunity.
In any other country, the media would highlight the Supreme Court’s role in engineering an emerging authoritarian coup. But in America, we only debate the legal questions.
The former president clearly lost the last election. Election officials confirmed the results, and many courts (including those with his own appointees) rejected his claims of fraud. He tried to overturn the results using the Justice Department and state officials and incited a violent riot at the Capitol.
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling grants the ex-president broad immunity from criminal prosecution related to ‘official’ acts. It was decided by justices with blatant conflicts of interest. These justices lied about their ties to insurrectionists, accepted secret gifts, and refused to recuse.
If this happened in any other country, we’d recognize it as the precursor to a coup. In America, we are failing to see the seriousness of this crisis. This isn’t merely about legal decisions — it’s an ongoing plan to transform our government into a dictatorship.
The extremist, Republican-controlled Supreme Court, now the most powerful legislative body in America, operates without democratic accountability. In addition to overturning laws to protect a minority at the expense of the majority, the Roberts court is remaking national elections to favor Republicans and shielding Trump from accountability. This isn’t just bad law. It’s an existential threat to our democracy.
Please get involved with pro-democracy groups like Indivisible. And VOTE in November like our democratic form of government depends on it — because it does.
Lawrence Pareles is a member of Indivisible Northampton – Swing Left Western Mass, and the Communications Committee of Indivisible Mass Coalition.
