May 6, 2024 2 min read

Any doubt that this Supreme Court is a shamelessly partisan body was erased on April 25 during arguments about a president being immune from criminal prosecution.

The goal of Donald Trump’s legal team is to delay the federal election interference trial until after the November election, and then quashing the case if Trump wins. This Supreme Court has gift-wrapped that goal, whatever the final opinion.

The Supreme Court’s only purpose is to decide the constitutionality of each argument, or, in the words of Chief Justice John Roberts, “call balls and strikes.” A pitch that reaches the catcher’s mitt is either a ball or a strike; likewise, an argument before the Supreme Court is either constitutional or it isn’t. It’s not for the justices to “fix” problems. That’s the job of lawmakers.

It is not even implied, let alone stated in the Constitution, that the president is immune from criminal prosecution. The Supreme Court should never have agreed to hear this lunacy, but since they did, it shouldn’t have taken about a minute to return a 9-0 opinion against immunity based on the Constitution. But that’s incorrectly assuming that we have a Supreme Court that “calls balls and strikes.”

Don DeAngelis

Canonsburg