Now Let the Courts, Including the Supreme Court, Try to Enforce Their Rulings
That quote is often paraphrased or attributed in spirit to Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States. During the 1830s, the U.S. Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John Marshall, issued a decision in Worcester v. Georgia. The Court ruled that the state of Georgia had no authority to impose laws on Cherokee tribal lands.
President Andrew Jackson ignored the decision. There is no direct historical record that Jackson actually said, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it.” In a letter, Jackson expressed disdain for Marshall’s ruling, but the exact phrase likely originated from later historians or political commentators summarizing his position.
Nevertheless, Jackson refused to enforce the Court’s ruling, effectively letting Georgia continue its policies, which contributed to the Trail of Tears.
Many of my readers, and friends alike, wonder how it is that the Orange Man keeps getting judgments against him, and continues to give those judgments the middle finger. As an example, as though we really needed one, the Supreme Court disallowed his deporting hundreds of so-called ‘gang members’ to El Salvador without legal defense. That order was so strict it even required flights in progress to return. Since that order, over 250 flights continued, and the OM even flouted the Supremes by meeting the El Salvadoran president in the Oval Office to smirk their way through a mutual declaration of permanence.
By the way, El Salvador receives approximately $20,000 per deported individual annually, under a controversial agreement with the United States.
Controversal, I guess. How can this possibly happen?
In the real world that most Americans who are not presidents inhabit, they would be in contempt of court and subject to any number of enforcement procedures, including jail. Not so with a sitting president, who the Supremes found to be legally untouchable while in office. And that makes some sense, as the party out of office could tie any president up with endless frivolous lawsuits.
Not that the Orange Man is frivolous, he’s a lifelong evader of both laws and jail-time.
Although, After leaving office, a former president becomes a private citizen again, and is subject to the same legal system as everyone else. They can be charged, prosecuted, and convicted for crimes committed before, during, or after their presidency. Like Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the OM uses his office as a safe-haven from the slammer. One can only hope they complete the rehab of San Quentin in time for him to be its inaugural resident.
While the U.S. Constitution is silent on indicting sitting presidents, custom prevails in its prohibition.
That leaves impeachment as the sole recourse, and this president has been impeached twice, yet never convicted, making him the only U.S. president in history to face impeachment on two separate occasions. A bigly achievement, the bigliest of all time.
Successful impeachment in the United States Congress is a hard sell, requiring indictment by the House, and conviction in the Senate by a two-thirds majority. President Andrew Johnson came close in 1868, failing conviction by a single vote.
The Orange Man controls both houses of congress at the moment, but that could change during the upcoming mid-term elections. If both the House and Senate fall to Democrats, it’s anybody’s guess.
I doubt that San Quentin is preparing a Presidential Suite.
Even so, the current administration is leaving us our own Trail of Tears as its legacy
(Memo) In an essay shortly after the OM took office, and brought in the Musketeer to chainsaw the bureaucracy, I gave their relationship somewhere between one and six months to sour. I was close, it took just four months. The OM’s Oval Office has room for only one narcissist.