The Ford pardon of Nixon would have been totally unnecessary. A million other actions and arguments in American history assume presidents aren't immune. It's a totally new idea, nowhere in text or American tradition. Arguably the least originalist major SCOTUS decision in American history.
under the opinion in trump v. united states there was no need for john yoo to come up with an elaborate justification for torture. george w. bush could have ordered an interrogator to crush the testicles of a child, no questions asked.
When you make this point defenders say Nixon was at risk for prosecution for unofficial actions which tells me they have never read the articles of impeachment drawn up against Nixon.
Yeah, a side issue here is how few people know what crimes Watergate entailed. It wasn't just a break-in (even though committed judges could probably rationalize that official as well).
Plus his convos with his AG, chief of staff and WH counsel would explicitly be inadmissible under this ruling…so what would they have to go after him? Fuckin Liddy?
Tbf, originalism is the philosophy of "we do what we want and when it happens to fit with the founders' stated intent we use that as a justification" so it fits right in
"The President wants me to argue that he is as powerful a monarch as Louis XIV, only four years at a time, and is not subject to the processes of any court in the land except the court of impeachment."
Roberts: "This also means he's allowed to use his power to get around that four years thing"
