• jballs@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    So I’ve seen lots of commentary about this ruling, but I kind of assumed that the panic was overblown. After all, the ruling said presidents were only immune for “official acts” but could still be held accountable for “unofficial acts”, right? Well fuck, turns out I was wrong.

    “In dividing official from unofficial conduct, courts may not inquire into the president’s motives,” [Chief Justice] Roberts writes. “Such an inquiry would risk exposing even the most obvious instances of official conduct to judicial examination on the mere allegation of improper purpose, thereby intruding on the Article II interests that immunity seeks to protest.”

    They’re literally saying that there is no way to determine what is an official act and what is not. So Biden could order someone to go shoot Trump, and we couldn’t even inquire into if he was acting in an official capacity or not.