SCOTUS has been largely dormant of late. Are they in session? We hardly ask. But if anything is predictable it is that SCOTUS will be a formidable history-mover before long. That is because It can no longer kick the can down the road, as it could when it was a 4-4 tie. It must and no doubt will start to decide cases that will either change the country or chasten Donald Trump.
Problematic
When the GOP decided to go nuclear and pass Gorsuch with a bare majority the party made some serious history. They told a divided nation with a divided court that with the hated Obama gone they would continue to act as though he was the problem.
They forced through the appointment.
Obedient
They did not say we need to consider this. Trump may have the insurance policy he needs to create what is essentially no longer our checks and balances democracy, but something eerily and portentously different. The GOP may have created a rubber stamp that will make the country yet more divided, with decisions that appear to be slavish obedience to Donald Trump.
The Mueller story below
Today the New York Times makes it clear that the Mueller hearing will investigate whether Donald Trump obstructed justice in the Russia matter. Such an investigation will not sit well with the tweeter in chief. But he has this little insurance policy now. He will probably have enough sense not to cal Neil Gorsuch and tell him he is his friend.
But who knows? The point is whether Gorsuch can be depended on to make pro-Trump decisions until the cows come home.
Mueller Seeks to Talk to Intelligence Officials, Hinting at Inquiry of Trump https://t.co/2A8FgrNyDE
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) June 15, 2017
All Trump will need is a hint to start obsessing about the damage Mueller is about to unleash.
In essence, this story could be, What will Trump do to make certain this a story does not go away? You know he may not be able to resist fighting and thus implying he has mountains to hide.
Is SCOTUS in the bag?
There are at least two, possibly three or four, matters that will answer whether the Supreme Court is going to side with Trump. It is barely possible that SCOTUS will decline to act on the Muslim ban in order not embarrass itself.
If that happens Trump will think the worst and rail at the court and maybe poison a potentially lucrative relationship. But it is equally likely that the Court will OK Trump's unconstitutional ban as part of a move to the right that is daunting in the extreme.
That would be the start of a series of decisions that could make the Mueller hearings moot. As I cogitate, it again seems that the best way to proceed is to scare the hell out of the President so he overreacts and the current stall remains in place. Nothing gets done. The GOP keeps plundering and the country atrophies even more.
