A few words on today's SCOTUS rulings
The most anticipated decisions of this Supreme Court's docket were released today, concerning efforts by the House of Representatives and the New York district attorney to get hold of Donald Trump's taxes and financial records.
Trump argued, ridiculously, that as president he had absolute immunity from both state prosecutors and Congressional committees.
In mirror 7-2 decisions, the Court ruled those arguments as farcical.
Now, this doesn't mean that the Rat has to hand over the records forthwith. The Court remanded both cases back to lower courts. He's still, sadly, a US citizen, and has the rights of any US citizen to contest demands for records.
But what the Court did was stick a knife in the idea that just because you're president, you're immune from a demand for investigatory material. Yes, you can contest the demand, like any American citizen. But you have only the rights that everyone else has, not some imperial, royal immunity.
I know that many of us, myself included, were hoping that the Court would just order the Rat to hand over the records. But, again, even he has rights. His mistake was in making ludicrous arguments about his inviolability, like some tribune in ancient Rome. No one is above the law. The Rat has the same protections his fellow citizens have, nothing more.
Reaffirming this basic principle, while not sexy, is big. The Manhattan DA will eventually get a hold of those records. The Manhattan grand jury will eventually indict the Rat. And he will be convicted. Take that to the bank.
And, remember: earlier this week, Deutsche Bank settled with the state of New York over helping Jeffrey Epstein launder money; as part of the deal, it handed over copious records. This is another piece of the puzzle in Trump's criminality. Justice will grind on.
While today's decisions didn't give us instant gratification, the principles they upheld are even more important. No one is above the law. That matters.