By Lambert Strether of Corrente
For all my patient readers, this water cooler is mostly an open thread, as I’ve spent the day recovering from last night’s food poisoning (thankfully that was it). I will, however, post about the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity. Also, before I was relieved of my duties last night, I was going to write a post discussing the Democrats and Biden’s decision-making process regarding continuing to campaign. If you have facts (as opposed to critical opinions) on this topic, please leave them in the comments. –lambert PS Also, Wednesday is a travel day for me, and I’m not sure if I’ll have any connectivity issues. So I’ll try to make tomorrow’s water cooler longer, especially to make up for any missed coverage on Covid.
Today’s Bird Song
Abi from Schoolcraft, Michigan, USA. No, I’m not commenting at all!
Poorly thought out, hasty reactions:
Trump v. United States, Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (PDF)United States Supreme Court).
Should I have considered this an obvious starting point for an era of legal wars?
“Supreme Court rules Trump is entitled to immunity from prosecution”SCOTUS Blog).
In a historic decision on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents can never be prosecuted for acts related to the core powers of their offices and are presumed to have immunity, at least for broader official acts.
The ruling leaves open the possibility that special counsel Jack Smith’s charges against former President Donald Trump that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election can continue to move forward, as long as they are based on private conduct, not official conduct.
The investigation, even if it concludes that charges can proceed, will almost certainly further delay the trial in the case, which was originally scheduled to begin on March 4, 2024 but is now on hold.
Chief Justice John Roberts, in his majority opinion, emphasized that the president is “not above the law,” but Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissenting opinion joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, countered that the criminal law we must obey is no backstop if a future president “abuses public power for personal gain.”
Regarding the various ongoing criminal cases against Trump:
There is some good news in the Supreme Court decision.
1. There is no immunity for unofficial conduct, such as pressuring state officials, false electoral schemes, or public statements made about likely qualifications as a candidate.
2. Immunity for acts of government is only presumptive: the acts must be “definite and exclusive” in scope.— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) July 1, 2024
“Nixon Interview”Wikipedia). “In part 3, Frost asked Nixon whether the President could take illegal action in certain circumstances, against anti-war groups, etc., if he determined that it was ‘in the best interest of the Nation.’ Nixon replied, ‘Yes, by definition.’ (24)(25)” (Note that WikiPedia adds the ‘by definition.’) • Stoller comments:
The Supreme Court, for fun, retroactively legalized Watergate.
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) July 1, 2024
Speaking of the special counsel:
The Supreme Court, for fun, retroactively legalized Watergate.
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) July 1, 2024
It seems like a contradiction:
In other words, while government agencies can’t do anything even if Congress tells them to, the president can do whatever he wants regardless of the law.
— Ryan Grimm (@ryangrim) July 1, 2024
On the bright side, does the OMB now have the power to take all of the power that the Supreme Court took away from regulators by striking down the Chevron principle? Giving that power to the OMB should expand its power by two or three orders of magnitude.
Update And of course:
If today’s Supreme Court decision shocks you, wait until you learn that 10 years ago in federal court, Obama administration lawyers argued that they had the authority to kill Americans without trial. https://t.co/wxKWgizhix
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) July 1, 2024
look “21st Century Government Agencies are Crime-Promoting Environments“NC”
Contact information for plants: Dear readers, feel free to contact me at lambert(UNDERSCORE)strether(DOT)corrente(AT)yahoo(DOT)com. If you want to know how to send a check if you have allergies to PayPal or how to send a picture of your plant, please contact me. Vegetables are fine. Fungi, lichens and corals are considered honorary plants. If you want your handle credited, put it in parentheses (thus) at the beginning of the email. If not, I will anonymize you using your initials. See my last Water Cooler (with plants) hereFrom Teton Time:
But there are lots of plants too!
Teton Time writes:
My kids and I have a habit of collecting seeds from plants we find while hiking through the woods here, which the pollinators love to use.
We collected these seeds several years ago and I have a test area to see what light and soil conditions these plants prefer, it is often very frustrating and there are lots of failures.
Three years ago I collected some wild daisies. You know they’re hardy because they survived attempts to remove them from our test beds. I couldn’t believe how beautiful they were growing in the flower bed at the front of our property. Native plants do well once they get going. In fact, once they get out of the borders, it’s often a chore to pull them out.
In another 20-30 years, this place should be up and running. I’m sticking to all natural, native plants. That’s what I do. It’s a lot of work, but it will pay off one day. I also planted peonies and poppies which are blooming big right now. These are heirloom plants that I crossbred. The seeds are real, though, not native, but they both do very well here. Pollinators prefer wildflowers over these man-made things. Any lessons?
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