A distinguished group of retired four-star generals and admirals from the U.S. military have argued in a brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that Donald Trump’s claims of absolute “presidential immunity” from criminal prosecution tied to Jan. 6 is an “assault” on the “foundational commitments” underpinning democracy and if his argument is allowed to succeed before them later this month, it threatens “to subvert the careful balance between the executive and legislative branches struck in the Constitution.”

The 38-page amicus brief features 19 authors, all of them decorated retired admirals, generals or secretaries from branches of the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force respectively. On April 25, the high court is poised to hear Trump’s question of immunity against prosecution for his alleged criminal conspiracy to subvert the results of the 2020 election. and according to the brief, these are arguments that should be approached with extreme caution.

  • Dojan@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I mean Trump and his allies goal is literally to dismantle democracy so that shouldn’t come as a surprise.

    • GladiusB@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Such a patriot. To celebrate the county that gave him a life that most will never even think about. By dismantling it completely.

      • nomous@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        It doesn’t matter if it’s a flaming pile of shit, as long as you’re at the top.

  • NegativeLookBehind@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    It was later discovered that Kavanaugh turned the document into a beer bong after claiming to have “totally read that shit” and filling it with 3 Miller Lites, at a local frat party

  • AquaTofana@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    A group of retired Generals/Admirals are the ones who convinced Congress to repeal DADT back in 2011 so our LGBTQ+ brethren could openly serve.

    I understand that the entire Government has changed since then, and it’s an entirely different branch of the Government that they’re petitioning, but fuck, this gives me hope.

    These people do still have some sort of influence, and they’re attempting to use it for good. That makes me happy.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Most notable, though, is that they face no jeopardy for speaking out. None of them could do this while serving.

      • AquaTofana@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        This is true, to an extent. They can be much more vocal (publicly) than anyone currently serving, without fear of reprisal/loss of benefits.

        However, these retired O’s definitely have enough money that should they want to abandon ship and move their family elsewhere, they absolutely could. They don’t have to get involved anymore, so I like that they’re taking the time to do so. It shows that they still gaf.

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    How the fuck is this even before the Supreme Court? It shouldn’t have even been a question and it should’ve just been laughed out of Court when it was proposed. I can see SCOTUS ruling to give it to him, under the idea that Biden would be too principled to actually make use of that new power (instead of say ordering the assassination of Russian agents from a certain political party, like he should).

    • fluxion@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      The second they rule in Trump’s favor I’m all for forcefully removing the SC and implementing massive ethics reform and judicial review. And no law shall stop it, because the President is above all reproach, including, apparently, a literal insurrection.

      • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
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        8 months ago

        Biden should just announce that he will have Trump and the entire SC executed if they decide the president has absolute immunity.

            • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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              8 months ago

              yeah maybe if we try appeasement for another generation they’ll leave us alone /s

            • VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Yeah, we’re past the point where this can be settled peaceful for certain anyways.

              If Trump wins we’re in for a revenge tour, and if he loses there will be some form of major conflict. We have roughly 8 months to rip the band-aid off.

              And before anyone tells me there won’t be a major conflict if he loses, let me remind you. He was trying to be discreet when he called his supporters up for the insurrection. All he wanted at the time was for them to delay the proceedings regarding the inauguration. The man is out of time regarding all the cases that have been building up against him, he doesn’t have it in him to keep this up. If/when he does not get the presidency he won’t be discreet, he will likely call for all out war.

          • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
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            8 months ago

            It would highlight how dumb the argument that the president has absolute immunity is, the SC would rule against it and that would be the end of it.

    • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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      8 months ago

      The Supreme Court chose to rule on this after the courts in Colorado already ruled that the president was not an exception to the insurrection clause. They didn’t have to, they wanted to.

  • profdc9@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    It’s quite ominous that retired senior military officers need to say this. It suggests that if Trump is reelected, we could see widespread mutiny, because officers would refuse to accept orders for which they might be criminally liable. Even if SCOTUS makes Trump immune, it does not necessarily make anyone following his orders immune. Choosing between a committing a crime like murder, and another like insubordination, an officer might well choose insubordination.

  • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    the problem with telling scotus that this is an assault on democracy is that scotus is openly complicit in the assault on democracy. you can’t shame the shameless.

  • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    If some of those generals gift an RV or fishing trip their words might have an influence on SCOTUS.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    The claim is only a threat because the courts are so comically stacked towards his position.

    Americans don’t want to read the writing on the wall. Democracy already failed. We’ve simply refused to acknowledge we’re living in the rubble.

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Americans don’t want to read the writing on the wall. Democracy already failed. We’ve simply refused to acknowledge we’re living in the rubble.

      We’re not there yet, calm yourself. Your rhetoric doesn’t help.

      Having said that, wake the fuck up people, participate.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        We’re not there yet

        Go check out states like Ohio and Wisconsin, where 40% of the voting base selects a supermajority of the legislature.

        My own Texas Senate has been similarly packed and stacked. And that’s before you get into the openly adversarial practices of state voting offices.

        We are not a democracy in any real sense. We are, at best, a Republic of regional demagogues and despots.

        Having said that, wake the fuck up people, participate.

        Lining up for another game of 3-card-monte because this time I can beat the dealer.

        • Makeitstop@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          The Wisconsin Supreme Court threw out the gerrymandered election maps. This happened only after an election shifted the balance of the court. That election had record breaking turnout, because the people were engaged and ready to fight for their rights.

          Democracy isn’t dead, but it is in danger. Giving up isn’t going to make things better.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            The Wisconsin Supreme Court threw out the gerrymandered election maps.

            https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/13/wisconsin-gop-undoes-legislative-gerrymander-after-court-pressure-00141325

            The lines put forward by Evers in court and passed by the Legislature Tuesday still slightly favor Republicans, according to an analysis from Marquette University Law School. But they are competitive overall and give both parties a chance to compete for a majority in both legislative chambers.

            One red wave, one red governor, and the state goes right back to where it started.

            The situation is untenable when one party works exhaustively to cheat on the first day in office and the other has to spend the next ten years cleaning up the mess.

            As of March, we’re seeing generic Republicans with a coin flip chance of winning statewide with a map that marginally favors their party.

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          You don’t think if people stop just standing by the sidelines watching, but instead participate, specifically pushing back on their Representatives and their Senators, asking for change, that things wouldn’t change? At all?

          Congress does what it does because we all sit on our asses and do nothing about it, except maybe go vote every once in awhile.

          They have no respect for us, because they don’t see us as participating in the system, only companies that give them money are seen in their eyes to be participating.

          Democracy already failed.” is total bullshit, plain and simple, and it’s rhetoric that doesn’t help solve any problems.

          Participate.

        • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          One of the ways democracy falls is if we prematurely declare it fallen. Abortion referendums in deep red states have passed. Democrats have won in Alabama suburbs. Republicans could at best tie Democrats in economic conditions that heavily favored them.

          Democracy is succeeding. What we’re seeing is that it takes time to change things, because there is entrenched power. That’s slowly eroding away though, because they have gone too far against the people.

          We are in a position to completely eliminate entrenched Republican power over the next decade or so if we remain persistent, all through democracy. It will be slow, but it will work.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            One of the ways democracy falls is if we prematurely declare it fallen

            You’ve got it backwards. Democracies fall because people assert the institutional rot can’t happen to their sacred soil and refuse to acknowledge their own internal failures.

            Democracy is succeeding.

            When barely half the eligible voting population bothers to participate? When seats are so heavily gerrymandered that 40% of the voting public can command a super majority in the legislature? When every election is (fairly or not) considered rigged or stolen going back to the Kennedy Administration?

            We are in a position to completely eliminate entrenched Republican power over the next decade

            We are not. Nobody on the Dem side of the ballot wants this. Party leadership wants a strong opposition. They even state as much publicly.

    • Mrderisant
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      8 months ago

      Unfortunately doing so would make the magats go nuclear

  • YaDownWitCPP@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Seems unnecessary. There’s no way that SCOTUS would equate the Constitution’s description of Presidential immunity with the Sovereign immunity found in other countries.

      • YaDownWitCPP@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg even said that Roe was a faulty decision that was too far-reaching and too sweeping. It was a decision that was physician-centered rather than women-centered. Roe was always bound to be overturned.

  • CableMonster@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    Do you guys remember when a huge group of retired intelligence people told us the Hunter laptop had “all the hallmarks or russian disinformation”? Yeah, I dont care or trust what politically motivated people have to say about issues and neither should you.

    • Enkrod@feddit.de
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      8 months ago

      The word “disinfornation” came from the press. The authors stated it “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation”, adding:

      We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement—just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.

      Politico (owned btw. by german far right Axel Springer LLC, Germanys Fox News) distorted the meaning of the letter:

      There was message distortion. All we were doing was raising a yellow flag that this could be Russian disinformation. Politico deliberately distorted what we said. It was clear in paragraph five

    • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      Yeah, I dont care or trust what politically motivated people have to say about issues and neither should you.

      So we should ignore what you have to say? You should have lead with that.