Sorry if this is not the proper community for this question. Please let me know if I should post this question elsewhere.

So like, I’m not trying to be hyperbolic or jump on some conspiracy theory crap, but this seems like very troubling news to me. My entire life, I’ve been under the impression that no one is technically/officially above the law in the US, especially the president. I thought that was a hard consensus among Americans regardless of party. Now, SCOTUS just made the POTUS immune to criminal liability.

The president can personally violate any law without legal consequences. They also already have the ability to pardon anyone else for federal violations. The POTUS can literally threaten anyone now. They can assassinate anyone. They can order anyone to assassinate anyone, then pardon them. It may even grant complete immunity from state laws because if anyone tries to hold the POTUS accountable, then they can be assassinated too. This is some Putin-level dictator stuff.

I feel like this is unbelievable and acknowledge that I may be wayyy off. Am I misunderstanding something?? Do I need to calm down?

  • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
    221·
    5 months ago

    Your first sentence was right. This ISN’T democrat vs republican issue.

    But the rest of your message is straight hot garbage.

    This is a “united states as it always has operated, republican or democrat, or other parties that existed in the past” vs “united states becoming facist” issue.

      • snooggumsEnglish
        131·
        5 months ago

        Ah yes, totally comparable to a president assassinating his political rival on US soil. Great comment!

        • sorghum@sh.itjust.works
          38·
          5 months ago

          Political rival doesn’t mean anything. This ruling means any president will get away with it and we’ll likely need a constitutional amendment to fix. Hopefully ending qualified immunity would eliminate it.

          • snooggumsEnglish
            4·
            5 months ago

            Any president can get away with it, but only one party’s candidates will actually do it.

            The party that put these fascist judges on the bench will do it, in case that wasn’t obvious.

              • snooggumsEnglish
                21·
                5 months ago

                I didn’t say anything about them fixing it, just not abusing it.

                • sorghum@sh.itjust.works
                  13·
                  5 months ago

                  That’s still a naive take. It’s one thing I’ve noticed in this world is that most everyone is fine with authoritarianism so long as it’s their team/side/tribe/party calling the shots. It’s still giving power to people that shouldn’t have it and all it accomplishes is that they can and will step harder on you and keep you under their boot.

                  • snooggumsEnglish
                    21·
                    5 months ago

                    The Dems and their constituents are not ok with this power for the president.

                    I just made a comment as a contrast to the Republicans who stacked the courts to get this decision so they could abuse it.

                    The only people who are ok with this are the Republicans.