The Rule of Law is Falling

A few minutes ago the Supreme Court hinted that it could grant the president a shield to hide bad acts and crimes while in office by making investigation of him impossible. One news source writes:

“WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts is ordering an indefinite delay in the House of Representatives’ demand for President Donald Trump’s financial records. Roberts’ order Monday contains no hint about how the Supreme Court ultimately will resolve the dispute. It follows a filing by the House earlier Monday in which the House agreed to a brief halt for the orderly filing of legal briefs, while opposing any lengthy delay. Those written arguments will allow the justices to decide whether they will jump into the tussle between Congress and the president. Last week, Trump made an emergency appeal to ask the justices to block the enforcement of a subpoena issued by a House committee to Trump’s accountants. The House has until Thursday to respond, Roberts said. The high court has a separate pending request from Trump to block a subpoena from a New York prosecutor for Trump’s tax returns.”

This is what the fall of the rule law looks like. That the court would even consider an “indefinite delay” is incomprehensible. Corrupting courts and law enforcement is how tyrants and kleptocrats rise to power. The separation of powers is collapsing before our eyes. In my opinion, if the court really does wind up blocking investigations long as Trump is in office, or even for ‘just’ a month, that would effectively end of any pretense at independence and impartiality that Chief justice Roberts can seriously assert. Pretenses of independence and impartiality are already very weak assertions. Both just might be about to completely disappear. Obviously, the president and his supporters will cheer this development as a return to the constitutional rule of law or something akin to it.