On a silver platter

In upholding Trump's travel ban today, the majority of the Supreme Court justices that ruled in favor of it missed the forest for the trees. It is truly mind-blowing that they did. The lower courts had enough legal and judicial sense to strike the travel ban not once, not twice but three times before it was accepted by the Supreme Court for review.

These lower court justices saw the ban for what it was, a power-grabbing threat by an autocratic president who not ironically is pushing for our immigration system to bypass judicial review for refugees and asylum seekers by precisely getting rid of judges. The travel ban had come prefaced by disparaging and bigoted campaign statements and promises. Promises this same president brags about keeping. They were made against Muslims in general and Muslim immigrants in particular. Real human beings.

In arguing for the broad powers of the president in matters of "national security", the 5 justices of the majority opinion of the day handed in their own integrity on a silver platter, but they did worse than that. They eroded the very reason why the Supreme Court exists, to hold the other branches of government accountable. This is what the lower courts were not willing to do, but now that battle is over. By a decree of 5-4, the Supreme Court whether realizing it or not (I'm willing to bet the 5 don't have a clue) folded. It eroded its own power to hold a megalomaniacal president accountable for generations to come. That is unless the remaining branch of government, the legislature, does something to stop this leaps-and-bounds overreach. Can we hold our breaths?

Obviously, the long game of waiting president Obama out of the White House in order for a hopefully "Republican" president to appoint "conservative" judges worked like a charm. This ruling proves that the political maneuvering is alive and kicking wherever it is played. But at what cost? At the grave cost of the very erosion of the power that handed us down a disgraceful and misguided ruling. Unlike what some might argue is his business sense, President Trump is not a smart and calculating politician. He rules by instinct and impulse. These are real dangers when one possesses political power because instinct and impulse are easily exploited.

Yet, there's one thing that will encourage President Trump to be more calculating from this day forward. He'd submitted the concept of presidential power to an impressive test and he won. Bigly. He will be intentionally calculating as to how his own presidential power can continue to expand. Of that we can all be certain. There is an increasing reversal of freedoms running amok around the world. Duterte, Putin, Erdogan, Maduro, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un are worrisome and sure examples of contemporary leaders who do not care about civil liberties. They do care about power, in particular how they can keep it to wield it for their own purposes, and insofar they keep it and use it they see themselves as supreme servants of their interests, agendas, nations accordingly. Don't be fooled. This is how nationalism takes hold and I think we're seeing it unfold before our very eyes.

In the service of this so called "Make *Whatever* Great Again" campaign, systems and institutions that have served the common good for generations begin to be transformed and deconstructed. It is my belief that one of the most resilient institutions in the history of the United States has entered into an accelerated phase of deconstruction. By their decision today, the majority justices have no one to blame in this process but themselves. Even the president himself tweeted in disbelief or surprise or both when he heard about the ruling this morning. "Wow!"

#thisisamerica
#trump
#supremecourt
#freedom