By Matt Underwood The Supreme Court made a horrible mistake when it gave Trump absolute power. It’s hard to even call it a mistake, really. More like a deliberate dismantling of the checks and balances that have, until recently, defined American democracy. This wasn’t an accident; it was a carefully orchestrated maneuver, a long game played by a conservative movement that has, for decades, prioritized reshaping the judiciary. And the consequences are terrifyingly clear.
What’s really chilling is the Supreme Court’s rationale, as articulated by Chief Justice Roberts. He argued that a president must be able to “carry out his constitutional duties without undue caution” and take “bold and unhesitating action.” But what happens when that “bold action” veers into lawlessness? What happens when it’s used to shield corruption, to purge political enemies, or to trample on the rights of others? Justice Sotomayor, in her dissent, didn’t mince words. She called the decision “a loaded weapon” for any president who prioritizes their own interests over the nation’s.
It’s almost as if they handed a toddler a loaded weapon. The context of this decision is crucial. It wasn’t a hypothetical situation. It was a real-world case involving Donald Trump, a man facing 91 felony charges, who was actively seeking absolute immunity to evade accountability. His lawyers, in their defense, argued for the ability to order the assassination of political rivals. And the Supreme Court, in its ruling, effectively gave him a “get out of jail free card” for actions taken while in office.
They essentially enshrined a president as king. No one, of any political stripe, should be above the law. Democracy hinges on this principle. The whole point of the system is to prevent absolute power from accumulating in any single individual. By ignoring this, by granting conditional immunity, the Supreme Court has fundamentally undermined the very foundations of the Republic.
This wasn’t an isolated incident. It’s part of a broader pattern of conservative activism, a deliberate effort to reshape the court into a radical conservative body. The conservative movement has brilliantly, albeit nefariously, drilled home the importance of the Supreme Court, using it as a tool to mobilize their voters and secure political gains. They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew the consequences. And they proceeded anyway.
The parallels to historical periods of democratic decline, like the rise of Nazism in 1930s Germany, are deeply unsettling. The erosion of checks and balances, the demonization of political opponents, the replacement of competent officials with sycophants – it’s a playbook we’ve seen before. And the Supreme Court, with this ruling, has become complicit.
History will judge this court harshly. It has failed as the republic’s last line of defense against those who would subvert democracy. It has handed the tools of autocracy to a man with a documented disregard for the law and a history of unethical behavior. The Roberts Court should admit its error and restore the principle that no one, not even the president, is exempt from the rule of law.
This isn’t just about Donald Trump. It’s about the potential for any future president to abuse the powers of the office, to act with impunity, to place their own interests above those of the nation. It’s about the very future of American democracy. And the Supreme Court’s decision, far from being a simple mistake, represents a fundamental betrayal of its constitutional duty.