Dangerous immunity

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

Ordinarily when we hear the word immunity, we don’t think about the possibility of a United States president being free to do whatever his/her heart desires – and certainly not to allow a President to walk down 5th Avenue and shoot someone without consequences It certainly would not be a reason for voting for him/her! Knowing the “permission” the Supreme Court” has just given any crook who has a desire to do wrong to just do it! What it means is we can just forget the meaning of what we keep being told – “No one is above the law”

Donald Trump has always figured he is above the law, and he was comfortable saying it knowing he had the current Supreme Court in his hip pocket. So many times, he has told us what he plans to do if he gets back in office. He’s trying to deny that he knows about the sins he committed during his unfortunate time in the White House.

Trump has violated every norm expected of someone who dares to serve as president of the U.S. The U.S. has its problems. Just ask African Americans, Hispanics, Arab Americans, Muslims, LGBTQIA members, poor people, women when it comes to deciding matters of their own bodies, Progressives, people who speak out against unfairness – and you know the rest. The blessing is there are numerous people who risk their all to make things better for all of us.

Just ask Jack Smith, Fani Willis, Marilyn Mosby, and those who challenge the system by working to bring about equality and justice. Ask those who work for reparations for America’s past sins. Ask the women who try to re-gain what they are allowed to do with their own health care. Ask those who work for justice for all without regard to race, creed or color. Ask the large number of Black women who’ve been punished for doing their jobs as prosecutors. Ask those who once said, “We’ll take our cause to the United States Supreme Court” but now dread the thought of taking a righteous cause to the Supreme Court.

Ask those who no longer rely on our Supreme Court for fairness except for the efforts of Justices Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor who said “The President is now a king above the law. With fear for our Democracy, I DISSENT.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said, “If the structural consequences of today’s paradigm shift mark a step in the wrong direction, then the practical consequences are a five-alarm fire that threatens to consume democratic self-governance and the normal operations of our government.” Justice Elena Kagan laid out grim visions of U.S. democracy. In the Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson’s written dissent, these women speak for us on the Supreme Court. Tragically, they are not in the majority in order to encourage us to be hopeful.

Now, we just long for the day vacancies become available under the right president, for the three women now there to survive – and continue growing with the occasional thoughtful question that comes from Justice Amy Coney Barrett!

So many issues are hanging by a thread if we who care about our democracy don’t step up to the plate. We, the people, are being asked if we prefer an older man who knows and practices the truth or a slightly younger man who doesn’t know the truth? Voting in November is critical if we are going to win a race over a many-times convicted criminal who is dodging other potential convictions if we are to preserve our democracy, and return to a time when “No One Is Above the Law!” VOTING IS THE MECHANISM BY WHICH WE PROVE IT!

This article originally published in the July 15, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.