Loss of Democracy by Ed Horn

The Supreme Court decision as to presidential immunity will change the relationship of the Executive as to the other two branches of government. Freed of constraints the President will have the power to refuse obeying laws passed by Congress or rulings by the Supreme Court.

Most importantly the decision by the Court will permit a president to void the vote of the people by simply denying the election results.

Any who would argue against these conclusions must confront history. Where such power was granted when was it not taken and used?

Our norms and political rights have eroded over recent years, mostly because of the rulings of the Supreme Court. To deny the partisan ideology of the conservative Justices is impossible.

Having sworn to uphold precedent at their Hearings, each Justice has discarded the judicial rulings of past Courts to reach a political determination sought by the Christian right. Anti-abortion and a woman’s right to determine her own fate, abrogating laws protecting minority voting rights have been key agenda items for this group.

With the red States banning books and denying a parent the right to medically determine what is best for their gay child there seems little doubt that in a contest between parental rights and the State’s demand for its definition of morality, the State’s will be supported by this Court.

History has shown that democracies are destroyed by attacking and removing rights by small steps.  The Right sees Hungary as an example. The Nazi regime patented the method by denying citizen rights and protections slowly over time. In the end it permitted the Final Solution and a world war.

Where the Supreme Court has moved the nation is unknown. Yet by granting unlimited presidential powers which have no restraints and by emasculating itself the Supreme Court has changed America from what it has been to what Christian nationalists want it to be. The future will not be what nearly 250 years of American legacy would have been thought possible.