• wjrii@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    One of the things this SCOTUS has been doing, if you’re watching closely enough, is saving the administration from itself. They are absolutely ideologically on board with much of what’s going on, and even the “principled conservatives” think the constitution is some sort of lateral thinking interview puzzle to be decoded by any asshole who thinks he can Kobayashi Maru the thing without actually hacking the code. They’re all on board with throwing out stare decisis, even though traditionally that has only been done when it was just blatantly obvious the court was blinded by the prejudices of its day. They’re happy to find any place where the current Congress has declined to complain, or where there’s some loophole of statute or regulation that lets them expand presidential authority at the expense of the other branches or the executive agencies/departments that have traditionally needed some level of independence. No doubt about it, they’re completely fine with a MAGA world.

    They are, however, also trying to be the MAGA babysitters for the terrible MAGA children, and they’re tapping the brakes every so often when something utterly idiotic lands in their laps, or where (assuming an election happens) the GOP would be fucking themselves if they’re ever back in the minority. They’re also trying to let Trump sand down the plating on the guardrails without immediately gouging into the base metal underneath, pitted and flimsy as it is. They know that without the last hints of legitimacy, physical control of the means of state violence is the last thing that prevents full-on revolt. It’s the same as Ted Cruz half-heartedly sticking up for Kimmel, or Thune not completely killing off the cloture votes for virtual filibusters.

    I assume this one was even simpler if the administration itself was not yet prepared to actively push for her to have the conviction overturned, and they may never be since dangling a pardon is probably the best way to keep her in line until the theoretical end of Trump’s term. Even if they had pushed, I think this might have been part of the “ten” in the 90-10 split where Trump gets almost whatever awful thing he wants from them.