In the sense that the president couldn’t be prosecuted for giving the order, probably. I’m not 100% sure what he’d have been charged with before
But a lot of the discussion of this blurs the distinction between “can’t be prosecuted for making the order” and “can’t be prosecuted for carrying it out”
Oh he 100% could.
But he could have done that before. And I have some doubts that the fear of being prosecuted for… something(?) is the difference between a president willing to order that and one who isn’t.
And, yes, there are other constraints, but the rule of law was a pretty big one.
Trump floated this several times during his presidency. And was told he can’t do that each time.
What happens if he holds up this ruling and says “why not?”
“Plans are already in motion to use this new, historic court decision as a legal shield to help a potential second Trump administration implement his extreme policy agenda with less concern for rules and laws, sources with knowledge of the matter say.”
At least at first blush, the examples of extreme actions which could be aided by this ruling… aren’t
The thing stopping Trump from sending active duty troops to US cities to “bring order” wasn’t his fear of being personally prosecuted, it was that the military would (we hope) refuse unlawful orders
I think you’re underestimating the way Trump will use this ruling to argue that it is *not illegal* (he will be wrong, but he will wave the ruling around and shout it anyway)
And you’re underestimating the degree to which he’s going to fire and replace generals until they agree with him that it’s not illegal, because the Supreme Court said if he did it, it was OK.
I think you’re right about the distinction, but it’s not a distinction that Trump will make.
And, I care more about how Trump will perceive this ruling that how you or I will perceive it.
He just heard the starting gun for everything he wants in a second term
I’ll absolutely agree it’ll embolden him. But if we were ever relying on Trump being reserved on whether to do illegal things, we’re already pretty fucked.
