What’s sauce for the goose…"
Without getting too outrageous (using SEAL Team 6 to take out Trump, etc.), what can Biden do to help ensure a November victory, using official acts that cannot be challenged in the courts?
I wonder if he could come up with a flurry of executive orders on a wide variety of issues meant to absolutely CLOG the judicial system while at the same time advancing Democratic priorities (like improving voting access), each one based on a “liberal” interpretation of this ruling. So that SCOTUS has to rule on each and every one, and fast if they want to stop them from taking effect.
Maybe as Commander in Chief, he could order all military officers to refrain from casting ballots in the election. It’s a well-known fact that the enlisted folks are fairly purple while the officers tend to lean red.
Perhaps order the National Guard to clear paths and escort voters (including providing rides en masse) to the polls in Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix, Atlanta, Charlotte, Milwaukee, etc.? Order the NG to escort women across state lines for reproductive health care? EO’s to distribute federal money back to voters in the cities mentioned above?
None of this is likely, but it’s mildly amusing to consider.
Trump Force One is a Boeing 757 - Biden could order the FAA to ground the plane for safety inspections that could take maybe a few months. “We will not ignore the safety of the flying public - we are ensuring all private airliners meet industry standards for safety!”
Biden could declare Truth Social and the RNC terrorist organizations and freeze their assets, like how Russian assets have been frozen. “These entities pose a clear and present danger to our democracy! We will not continue to enable their lying and false information spreading!”
Apparently, anything that Congress can’t review is permissible. He can order, for example, every officer of the DOJ to indict Trump for some crime - imagined or not - and no one can really question that (though judges can turn down the cases for lack of evidence).
He could have Buttigieg use eminent domain to build a railroad through Mar-a-Lago.
In general, the President can order cabinet officers to do things and no one can review the motivation for those choices.
If he tried to do something like ordering Austin to send a sniper to take Trump out, there would still be a question of how Presidential immunity interacts with, say, the 8th Amendment of the Constitution. That question is unanswered.
In general, I’d say that the decision gives Biden some fairly extreme doxxing powers but, probably, not more than that.
I’d note that it would probably be worth Congress’ time to resolve that.
In terms of actions that are more specific to winning an election, I actually feel like those have already long-since been discovered and put to force. It’s not completely random that, at the end of Trump’s presidency, everyone was getting checks in the mail and the stock market was going crazy. Likewise, it’s not coincidence that Biden is trying to find a way to avoid taking payments for Federal student loans, right now.
The President can juice the economy and take actions to try and sell the people on his personal greatness and appreciation for their vote. If someone tried to challenge the student loans orders, they’d bump up against cabinet level secrecy and have zero subpoenas answered within the space. The Federal government may, nevertheless, be forced to continue requiring people to pay the loans back but the President wouldn’t go to jail for corrupt use of office (regardless of how obvious it might be that, that’s exactly what is occurring).
This is like the third time that Biden has tried to do student loan forgiveness. It’s simply false that he timed it to match the election. His first attempt was shot down by SCOTUS. I guess he should just call it an official act and just send out checks or something. Both sides are not the same.
And because both sides are not the same, there’s no way that Biden would take advantage of this ruling in the way that Trump will if he wins.
OP, I actually had a similar thread a few months back when Trump first made the ridiculous, now totally constitutional, argument that he was immune. If I can find it, I’ll like it here in case someone is looking for ideas.
ETA: Here’s my thread: Absolute Immunity
I am aware but:
- There seemed to come a new interest as campaign season began and, particularly, as the Gaza issue started to turn young voters away from the President. (Or, at least, an interest in talking about the effort more.)
- Biden is strong on boning up policing of monies owed to the Federal government.
- His history is of someone invested in collecting money owed to the Federal government.
And, even if that’s all not true and a complete misread of the situation, the point would remain that the question is unreviewable by the courts.
You’re free to substitute in “President Smithers” as an imaginary, hypothetical alternate President who did have less than fully honorable intentions.
January 6 was a terrorist action, therefore Trump needs to be taken into custody and locked away in Gitmo, which Biden still hasn’t shut down yet.
I dunno if you have to negotiate with New York, maybe the state and the federal government has to set up a custody agreement. New York can have him on weekends.
Wow! That’s a constitutional violation.
I think maybe he MUST do some questionably legal “official” act if only to test out the limits of the SC’s insane ruling. I want them to slap him down hard and thereby show that POTUS cannot do anything he calls an official act. The question is what will piss off the 6 corrupt Justices the quickest, politically speaking.
Forgive everyone’s student loans
Use Civil Forfeiture to proactively seize all property from anyone, or any company, that currently owes taxes, but is disputing that tax burden. Put the burden on them to prove that the assets weren’t bought using the illegal proceeds of criminal tax evasion.
Seize Alito and Thomas’ houses via eminent domain to build the Ruth Bader-Ginsburg Memorial Abortion Clinic and National Museum of Judicial Malfeasance.
I think we’re missing that the ruling doesn’t grant any new presidential powers, it just protects him from criminal prosecution. Acts will still be challenged and found unconstitutional, for example; exec orders ruled illegal; etc. He’s just in no danger of indictment.
So, it would have to be something like the National Guard suggestion, I think. Biden can’t send $1M to every citizen because Congress hasn’t authorized it and it would be nipped in the bud. But he wouldn’t get indicted, either, assuming that violated some statute.
It’s an interesting question, but it would have to be an act over which Congress has no authority.
I would guess that every president (with one notable exception) has considered courses of action during their presidency but then thought, “I can’t do that. That would be illegal.” Now that all “official” presidential acts are immune from prosecution, what should Biden do with this authority that he previously wouldn’t have done?
Convene a committee to redraw the electoral maps of all 50 states. If “concern about the integrity of elections” is a valid reason for Trump to pressure a SOS into “finding” votes, Biden can use the same reasoning to make sure all the maps accurately reflect voting and population trends.
What “accurately” means is an exercise for the reader. I’m sure Trump’s definition would differ from Biden’s.
D’oh! I’ll ask a mod to merge the answer below into that thread and close this one.