"Small government!" cries the Republican party, while trying to grant the president unprecedented levels of power.
In fairness, one single person seems like a pretty small government
That’s always been the meaning.
Lord Vetinari, from Terry Pratchett's Discworld
Yeah but arguably only works cos they've got a Vimes though aven't they?
You've for your Vetinaris, sure, but it all only really hangs together -only works- because you've got your Vimes too, see. And Dibblers, probly.
It all works because it's fantasy my friend
The pardon power is explicitly given to the president by the Constitution. Therefore it's a core power with absolute immunity.
The president is also given the clear authority to direct his subordinates in the executive branch as the "chief Executive." The SCOTUS has ruled that the president has almost unfettered power to hire/fire/order anyone in the federal government to do just about anything he wants with no restrictions.
So logically:
I guarantee this is not what the Framers envisioned or wanted, but this is what "conservative" judicial extremists on the SCOTUS have given us. Although I would be entirely unsurprised if they decided to roll this power back somehow if ever a Democratic president were to wield it.
I would argue that this sort of logical path wouldn’t be too shocking for the founders and they would just count on civility or elections to keep this from happening. The executive pardon itself is a fairly indefensible and corruption-facilitating loophole in the justice system.
You can see where this goes. Sadly, the founders weren't nearly as clever and cynical as they needed to be to spot these exploits.
My guess is they figured if someone got to far out of line president would be forcibly removed and the constitution ammended. At the time 1 person didn't have the ability to command armys across the world. Communications were by horse. You could likely take out the president with minimal effort if you wanted as the secret service didn't exist yet either.
Send a boat out to deliver people to attack a fort in oppenents land. 2 days later an emissary delivers a surrender... Oops, you can't catch the boat nor notify them on any other manner, weeks after a peace treaty is signed, people are are attacked by the people they surrendered too.
They did. They just had too much faith in people in government doing the right thing.
I didn't think you could even pardon contempt, but apparently Trump pardoned Arpaio's criminal contempt charge, and it stuck. There's a long discussion with a bunch of history here: https://www.law.georgetown.edu/public-policy-journal/in-print-2/volume-18-number-1-winter-2020/can-a-presidential-pardon-trump-an-article-iii-courts-criminal-contempt-conviction-a-separation-of-powers-analysis-of-president-trumps-pardon-of-sheriff-joe-arpaio/
Though, he's got small hands so what could he possibly do? /s
Since the Roe v Wade verdict was leaked, I feel like the media has been glossing over the revelation that there's just as much wheeling and dealing in the Supreme Court as in any of the other branches.
It's still just humans. Did you really expect otherwise?
I think most people actually do.
And they should.
I hate this unitary executive bullshit
Yeah but if you unify the government into one person, you could then technically drown that person in a bathtub, q.e.d. small government. Checkmate libruls!
Seems people have certainly been trying.
Yeah latest guy seems like a "don't tread on me" libertarian based purely on vibes, so that checks out
“We fight tyranny!” Republicans say while giving presidents immunity.
So what you're saying is that Roberts is the orange idiot's little butt boy?
Did he at least get an ~~RV~~ motor-coach out of it?
Wonder what the kompromat on Roberts is.
10M rubles probably
Isn't that only like $20? :one quick google search later: It's like $110k.
That's not even quality RV money...
10M rubles is $109,646.47
Awesome! Maybe we should do something about…
Oh yeah, we can’t.
Get out
Oh, is this the same guy that gives the commencement speech "I wish you bad luck"? I quite liked that speech but not so on this decision.
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