(Update: It turns out that Kate Cox, the pregnant woman I wrote about yesterday, left the state of Texas to obtain an emergency abortion elsewhere. It is lucky she did because after she left the Texas Supreme Court rejected her request for an exemption from the state’s strict ban on abortion. This is therefore a shameful day for the once-great state of Texas. I just wish the late Molly Ivins was still here to comment on that.)
***
When Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court Monday for an expedited ruling on the question of whether Donald Trump can be prosecuted for the alleged crimes he committed while president, he cited as precedent a ruling from the Watergate scandal half a century ago.
Back then, the court rejected President Richard Nixon’s claim of presidential privilege, forcing him to turn over the secret tape recordings he had made in the Oval Office. The court’s unanimous ruling helped lead to Nixon’s resignation.
As part of the deal for him to leave office, Nixon received a pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford. That pardon guaranteed that Ford would lose his re-election bid in 1976 against a little-known governor from Georgia named Jimmy Carter.
People my age remember all of this stuff vividly, but people my age also need to recognize that fully two-thirds of our fellow citizens had not yet even been born at the time of Watergate.
We considered it the biggest political scandal imaginable, but one that in the end strengthened our belief in the democratic system because it reaffirmed the principle that no one — not even a president — is above the law.
That was four decades before the rise of the would-be dictator Donald Trump, however. And of course, Trump now claims that he is and was above the law, although luckily for now at least that is not his decision to make. Perhaps he thinks he will prevail in the matter because the body that will decide his fate is stacked with three of his own appointees, plus three other conservative partisans, one of whom’s wife is a prominent election denier.
And maybe he’s right or maybe not. This Supreme Curt is not the quality of the one that judged Nixon, but it’s still a group of individuals who consider themselves the final arbiters of all things Constitutional. And they will not want to get this one wrong in the eyes of history.
All of this elevates the stakes to the highest level since Watergate, as the man who literally co-wrote (with Carl Bernstein) the book on the matter, Bob Woodward, recently confirmed.
The rest of us, old or young, can only hope that like Watergate, this one also has a happy ending.
HEADLINES:
Special counsel goes directly to Supreme Court to resolve whether Trump has immunity from prosecution (CNN)
To protect our democracy, Donald Trump must be barred from the Colorado ballot — Ahead of another massively important election, there must be consequences for insurrection and political violence. (Colorado Newsline)
Donald Trump Likely Bailed on Testimony for One Major Reason (Newsweek)
Giuliani could pay millions as Ga. election worker defamation trial starts today (WP)
Biden and Congress are mulling big changes on immigration. What are they and what could they mean? (AP)
Pregnant Texas woman at the center of a legal battle leaves the state to obtain an abortion, attorneys say (CNN)
Texas Supreme Court rules against woman seeking emergency abortion after she leaves state for procedure (CBS)
The Texas abortion case blows up the abortion ban rationale (WP)
Harvard president faces mounting pressure to resign after congressional hearing on antisemitism (NBC)
Clarence Thomas Rails Against Ban on LGBTQ Conversion Therapy (Newsweek)
European Union heavyweights are set for a showdown with Hungary this week over giving Ukraine billions of euros in aid and the chance to start membership negotiations, both key objectives for Kyiv as its war with Russia stalls. (Reuters)
President Joe Biden and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet in Washington this week as the White House steps up the pressure on Congress to provide more aid to the war-torn country. [AP]
SpaceX set to launch mysterious X-37B space plane for US military. (CNN)
Elon Musk Marks Race to Bottom With Alex Jones, Ramaswamy, Andrew Tate in Live Twitter Chat (Rolling Stone)
How Tucker Carlson helped persuade Elon Musk to reinstate Alex Jones on X (WP)
Pew: Many teens use social media "almost constantly" (Axios)
Tim Cook is risking his legacy on a pricey product in an unproven market. (CNN)
Cop28 draft climate deal criticised as ‘grossly insufficient’ and ‘incoherent’ (Guardian)
A World Map With No National Borders and 1,642 Animals (NYT)
U.N. warns of humanitarian collapse in Gaza (CBS)
U.S. seeking partners to safeguard ships after Red Sea attacks (WP)
Gaza’s al-Fukhari is dangerously overcrowded as Israel pushes people south (Al Jazeera)
Gazans Mass at Border for Safety, but Find Only More Peril (NYT)
‘Catastrophic’ conditions in Rafah as Palestinians reach the end of the line (Financial Times)
A Quiet Revolution? Mistral AI Releases Sensational New AI Model (Medium)
Is AI leading to a reproducibility crisis in science? (Nature)
A Small But Welcome Step in Prying Open AI’s Black Box (Bloomberg)
Why is Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot so unfunny? (Verge)
Goldendoodle Not Good With People Who Earn Less Than 6 Figures (The Onion)
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