“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,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissenting opinion this on week’s presidential immunity ruling.
According to a report from Axios, former President Donald Trump is indeed planning to have a king-style presidency if he’s reelected in November. Citing Trump advisors, the outlet said the presumptive GOP nominee “plans to immediately test the boundaries of presidential and governing power.”
It also said he “promises an unabashedly imperial presidency,” adding that he has stated “consistently and clearly,” that he would stretch the powers of the presidency.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for “official” acts, a decision that was met with backlash. Mother Jones called it a “momentous decision,” while MSNBC said the court “broke its own rule” and The Atlantic said “something has gone deeply wrong” at the court. Both a liberal and a conservative expert cited by NBC criticized the ruling.
Six justices voted in favor of the opinion, including three who were appointed by Trump. They make up the court’s current conservative-leaning majority. In addition to Sotomayor another of the three left-leaning justices, Ketanji Brown-Jackson, argued that the ruling made the president akin to royalty.
Axios’ report noted that President Joe Biden has warned that the person who is elected president this year will likely appoint two justices, as Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas are in their 70s and might retire. If it’s Trump, that means he will have appointed five out of nine justices, though it would not impact the current ratio of conservative to liberal judges.
Trump’s power in a second term wouldn’t just lie with the Supreme Court and its recent ruling on immunity, which is expected to play into legal challenges he’s facing.
Some top Democrats are predicting that Republicans will gain seats in the House and the Senate if Biden loses in November. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who is rumored to be a potential vice president pick for Trump, told Axios that Trump would have more allies in Congress for his second term in the White House.
“Most of Trump’s most prominent critics – Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, et al. – will be gone,” said the outlet. “Even the few who remain, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), will be substantially less powerful.”
Citing Trump allies, Axios said we can expect this from another Trump administration: “vast camps,” the deportation of people who entered the U.S. illegally, a lockdown of the Southern border accomplished by invoking the Insurrection Act, 10% tariffs on imported goods and the potential firing of tens of thousands of civil servants “using a controversial interpretation of law and procedure” to replace them with “vetted loyalists.”
It said he might be able to get those convicted for rioting on Jan. 6 pardoned and demand that federal cases against him cease. Axios also said he has “threatened to target and even imprison critics.”