By Gary A. Johnson (Publisher – Black Men In America.com)

July 3, 2024 

The Justices Did Everything in Their Power to Loosen The “Guardrails,” Rewrite the Constitution and Swing the Election for Trump 

Here we are, a few days after the Supreme Court decision on Presidential immunity.  For many people in America, yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling was shocking. They did not see this type of ruling or the scathing dissents that followed. Then there is this other group of Americans who clearly recognized the “separate Americas” that already existed and have been in plain sight.  I’ve spoken to about a half-dozen friends and colleagues and my take-away is that many people living in America are feeling disenfranchised by our government and they feel hopeless and sad.  They fear for the next generation. This feeling is new for many Americans, but not for all Americans and some other people around the world.

This sense of betrayal, powerlessness, and the inability to influence and change is a “wake-up call” and “sucker punch” by courtesy of this court and our government.

In the sport of boxing, the fighters are told “protect yourself at all times.”  This Supreme Court ruling was predictable.  Think about it.  Look at the last several appointments during the Trump administration.  These Trump appointees were expected to rule in this manner.

Many of us were raised where a ruling of this nature was simply not possible.  We falsely believed in the better nature of people and the ability of government to care for its people.  Silly us.  Look at the behavior of American businesses. Businesses are behaving as they are intended to do.  What I mean is that most profit-making businesses are part of a system, and every system has a need to replicate itself.  In this case —make money regardless of the outcome for anything but profit.

For example, Texas billionaire Harlan Crow’s “investment” in Supreme Justice Clarence Thomas has paid high yield dividends with his rulings and opinions which have been favorable to Crow. 

An investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed numerous undisclosed gifts provided to “Uncle Thomas” including private school tuition (amounting to more than $6,000 a month) for his nephew, and luxury vacations virtually every year for more than two decades totaling over a half million dollars.  This seemingly puts Thomas on the Mt. Rushmore of Ethics Violators.  In addition, an investigation by ProPublica revealed:

• Thomas attended two donor summits hosted by the Koch network, the political organization founded by billionaires Charles and David Koch, which put Thomas in “the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court,” the reporters write.
• Crow and wife Kathy paid for a seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Thomas’ eighth-grade teacher, unveiled at an October 2021 ceremony in a New York City suburb at which Thomas spoke.

Thomas’ failure to disclose these trips and favors brings the courts actions and decisions into question as this body seems to be the most corrupt group of 9 justices in the past 50 years.

Thomas is not alone.  There have been multiple ethics violations by other justices including Chief Justice Roberts and Justices, Alito, Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown-Jackson, and Gorsuch. 

Stay tuned.  There appears to be no end in sight.

The American justice system that I grew up in was far from perfect, but it at least led me to believe that the world had ideals, values and decency.  We were raised to believe that people did things for the good of others and that the world was a better place because we worked hard and did the right thing.  What were we smoking?

The reality is the world, and our future is more chaos, uncertainty and destruction where a few rule with impunity over everyone remaining.

Justice Sotomayor warned that the court’s ruling “will have disastrous consequences for the Presidency and for our democracy” and that it sends the message: “Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends.”  She added, “Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said that the majority’s ruling “breaks new and dangerous ground.”  In her dissent, she wrote: “Departing from the traditional model of individual accountability, the majority has concocted something entirely different: a Presidential accountability model that creates immunity—an exemption from criminal law — applicable only to the most powerful official in our government.”

Chief Justice Roberts dismissed the dissents, suggesting that his three liberal colleagues had misinterpreted the majority’s opinion.  He wrote that “like everyone else, the President is subject to prosecution in his unofficial capacity.” (Yeah right).  This court is giving Trump two things that he’s asked for—delay court proceedings and give his legal team more time until after the November presidential election.