#former presidents

[deadpresidents]

Just after the 2008 election, outgoing President George W. Bush invited all of the living former Presidents to the White House for a private lunch with President-elect Obama. A memorable Oval Office photograph shows the Bushes, Bill Clinton, and Obama chatting like old friends on the left, with Carter standing alone on the right. One of the Presidents confided later that the photo perfectly captured the chemistry of their meeting and lunch that day. The other Presidents gave Obama convivial advice on the peculiarities of the office, while Carter wanted to press his serious policy agenda. Carter later told Brian Williams of NBC News that the body language was deliberate because "I feel that my role as a former President is probably superior to that of other Presidents."

-- Jonathan Alter, writing about a lunch at the White House on January 7, 2009 with all living American Presidents and President-elect Barack Obama which highlighted the often-strained relationships that former President Jimmy Carter had with his successors, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO).

[sailerboy]

Of presidential concern!

Did you know that there are two kinds of coup. The formal definition of these are.

A self coup is when we elect someone and he has a determination to stay in power.

A plain coup, is an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership.

Let’s assume we elect someone who broadcasts that you will never have to vote again. I assume he wants to become someone like leaders in Venezuela, Africa, Russia, North Korea..for example. He will have control of the justice system, and possibly all constitutional rules plus foreign policy. And if the main government court gives him the power to legally let out the rioters like men in the January 6 insurrection , the self coup turns into a plain coup.

If our justice system gives him the power, then he can legally justify murder, and other types of revenge on constituents, the public, the opposing party and on opposing states by stating that he has the justification.

I hope this is not what America is coming to. I am just thinking of what will my country be like if a leader tries that tactic. We could have no free speech, less military to protect us, less central and personal services and freedom, more individual costs due to tariffs and control of the taxing system.

Does this ring a bell?

[william-r-melich]

If Nefarious Breach, You Must Impeach - 04/26/2024

Presidential immunity is something that I haven't previously given much thought to, probably because it's something that hasn't surfaced much as an issue until recently. Yesterday at Trump's hearing on presidential immunity, US Supreme court justice Samuel Alito questioned whether prosecuting former presidents would harm the country's governance. Trump's lawyers argued that former presidents should have absolute immunity for official acts they made during their tenure as president. They said if they didn't, then prosecuting former presidents would become routine and would undermine future presidents from being able to execute difficult decisions without worrying about future legal repercussions. After all, our country's presidents are commonly put in difficult positions wherein the right thing to do would be considered illegal if performed by any other citizen outside of the executive office.

While speaking to Michael Dreeban, an attorney for special counsel Jack Smith's team who are persecuting Trump in two other cases, the Bush-appointed justice (Samuel Alito) asked him this. “I’m sure you would agree with me that a stable, democratic society requires that a candidate who loses an election, even a close one, even a hotly contested one, leave office peacefully, if that candidate is the incumbent?” “Of course,” replied Dreeban. Alito further posited this, “if an incumbent who loses a very close, hotly contested election, knows that a real possibility after leaving office is not that the president is going to be able to go off into a peaceful retirement, but that the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent, will that not lead us into a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country as a democracy?” Dreeban replied that he believes there are “lawful mechanisms to contest the results in an election and outside the record” but claimed that President Trump and others “filed dozens of electoral challenges and my understanding is they lost all but one” in the courts following the 2020 election. He continued, “There was an appropriate way to challenge things through the courts with evidence, if you lose, if you accept the results, that has been the nation’s experience. I think the court is well familiar with that.”

Alito rebutted those assertions on whether there are enough legal safeguards to handle prosecutors acting politically. Dreeban and Jack Smith's team have said that prosecutors must go to grand juries for securing indictments as a check against prosecutions that are politically motivated. The justice responded by saying, "prosecutors could convince a jury to indict a ham sandwich."

Trump's lawyers also argued that their client was merely performing his duties as president while looking to uncover voting fraud during the 2020 election.

This week in New York, the former President, in reference to the Supreme Court case, told reporters the following. “If you don’t have immunity, you’re not going to do anything. You’re going to become a ceremonial president, you’re not going to be taking any of the risks, both good and bad.”

Chief Justice John Roberts, along with at least four other justices didn't seem to support the claim that absolute immunity would stop Trump from being prosecuted on charges of supposedly conspiring to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. Roberts was also with several of the other justices who indicated that the case might need to go back to the lower courts previous to the start date of any trial.

Roberts also showed his dismay with the reasoning brought by the Washington appeals court who gave the ruling against President Trump. During the hearing, the chief justice said this. “You know how easy it is in many cases for a prosecutor to get a grand jury to bring an indictment and reliance on the good faith of the prosecutor may not be enough in some cases.”

So, it appears to me that it's likely they will uphold limited presidential immunity, not absolute immunity. As such there's a good chance that it will go back to the lower courts to determine if he was actually performing his official duties while he was questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election results. If it's determined that he was, then immunity would apply, if not then it won't.

Oh, and by the way, there's something I forgot to mention. In the framer's wisdom they installed an important mechanism should the POTUS (President of the United States) engage in severely unlawful, egregious acts; Impeachment, - Duh! (I can't believe I forgot that and it's so important that I had to change the title of this post from, SCOTUS Hearing on Presidential Immunity.) Under impeachment it would require a 2/3rds majority vote in the senate to convict the President or one of his office holders. So, in deference to a famous Johnnie Cochran line, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit;" although with the opposite intention: "If nefarious breach, you must impeach."

[codesquire]

If you stop talking about that god-damned gremlin, it'll go away.

You weren't paying attention when Futurama covered this very issue in The Thief of Baghead.

[starcrossedandstupid]

How did they fail AGAIN???

[halberdierminister]

Look at this cool new t-shirt I made for fans of Abraham Lincoln! I made it on my own time, with my own resources, and without any affiliation to existing public or private institutions concerned with history, education, hospitality, culture or retail. You can find it at my new Threadless shop or directly at bit.ly/imissabe

[biglisbonnews]

This is so predictable, it's hardly a news story, but in case you aren't dialed in to the conman called Donald Trump, the former twice-impeached president was arrested and, naturally, pleaded not guilty on all 34 counts today. Trump arrived at the court house and surrendered at around 1:30pm ET, leaving about 2 hours later. — Read the rest https://boingboing.net/2023/04/04/954128.html

[hellsite-hall-of-fame]

I mean, you're obviously President Barack Obama, right?

well obviously

also can everyone stop stealing my shoelaces now >:(

/j

[wuntrum]

my piece for the @countdowntotwinpeaks wonderfulxstrange twin peaks exchange for @doesnt-own-a-sportscoat ! dale and harry settling into new routines :')

[ricky-mortis]

“You’re a caveman. And I’ve invented fire.”

Close-ups under the cut :)

[deadpresidents]

"I wish I could indulge higher hope for the future of our country, but the aspect of any vision is fearfully dark and I cannot make it otherwise."

-- Former President Franklin Pierce, 1860

[mail-me-a-snail]

and your host, me! ive been here the WHOLE TIME! welcome to game changer the only show where the game changes every episode i am your host snail reich,

[avesseloflanguage]

i know this is old news but like. it is so fucking insane to me that convicted felons — who can qualify in every other way, citizens who are absolutely affected by elections and politics — are not allowed to vote in the united states. like that alone is fucking crazy. and fucked up and VERY intentional and on track for the usa. but still genuinely crazy to actually think about.

but worse is that donald mother god damn fucking trump can still run for president and could be elected while being a convicted felon. like. bro can't vote for himself i guess. but this guy could still legally become the fucking president. HE CANT LEGALLY VOTE IN ELECTIONS ANYMORE. BECAUSE HE IS A CONVICTED FELON.

BUT HE COULD LEGALLY BECOME THE HEAD OF STATE.

[bowenoke]

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I received instructions from former president Barack Obama to drop a nuclear bomb on my parents' house. I got in the plane that held the bomb but I couldn't figure out how to fly it so I had to call my mom and ask her. After I started flying, she asked where I was flying to and I said, "Your mom-I mean, my mom's house?" and then immediately dropped it way too close to the ground which blew up the plane and killed everyone in the neighborhood.

[anthropoetics]

so funny when y'all latin americans act like you're any better than us when it comes to presidents

us? a hug