‘Nothing like this in American history’: the crisis of Trump’s assault on the rule of law – The Guardian US

‘Nothing like this in American history’: the crisis of Trump’s assault on the rule of law – The Guardian US
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Excerpt:

When the chief justice of the US supreme court, John Roberts, delivered his bombshell ruling last July granting Donald Trump absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, he laid out his vision of an expansive presidency. The executive, he wrote, should be “vigorous and energetic”, and free to carry out duties “boldly and fearlessly”.

If that sums up Roberts’ ideal occupant of the Oval Office, then he has certainly got what he wants in the 47th president. In his first month back, Trump has vigorously fired tens of thousands of federal workers; energetically ignored congressional statutes; boldly run roughshod over the constitution; and fearlessly unleashed Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, in a slash-and-burn campaign against the US government.

Trump has done more than that – he has opened a Pandora’s box that might, in time, give the chief justice pause. The president has indicated that he has another target in his sights: the very judiciary over which Roberts presides.

“He who saves his Country does not violate any law,” Trump posted on Musk’s X earlier this month, channeling Napoleon Bonaparte. The comment, combined with overt threats that Trump and his people have made against judges who dare stand in their way, have prompted a question that previously would have been unthinkable: is the president willing to defy the rule of law itself?