THE ‘WEAPONIZATION’ WHEEL TURNS Democrats are still processing Monday’s landmark Supreme Court ruling expanding the boundaries of presidential immunity. But many are already expressing one seismic concern: the fallout for the justice system. Under the Supreme Court ruling, multiple Democrats fear, Trump will have near carte blanche to bend the Justice Department to his will, using it to seek retribution on his political enemies under the guise of being an official act. To be sure, Democrats were already expressing concerns about the rule of law in a second Trump term, but the Supreme Court’s decision fanned those flames into a five-alarm fire. And, as we’ve noted, there’s not much they can do to stop their 2025 nightmare from becoming reality except beat Trump in November. “Trump … wants to set aside the Constitution, and he wants to weaponize our agencies against his political opponents. And I think this court put us one step closer to that if Trump was to return to the White House,” Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) told us Tuesday. A free hand at DOJ: Monday’s ruling holds, among other things, that Trump cannot be prosecuted for any conduct involving his dealings with the Justice Department, including pressuring officials to investigate allegations of voter fraud as he sought to overturn the 2020 election. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, put his concerns about that holding in stark terms, warning that Trump could not only pardon Jan. 6 defendants but “weaponize the Justice Department by firing career employees and replacing them with an army of sycophants willing to engage in retributive harassment against his political opponents.” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) echoed his concerns, saying that the DOJ had effectively been “stripped … of its valued independence and undermined its commitment to the rule of law” in a way that leaves the door wide open to political meddling in investigations and prosecutorial decisions. Democrats' use of the term "weaponization" carries some irony: It's the same word Republicans have embraced to describe the Biden Justice Department's pursuit of charges against Trump, allies like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, and even Jan. 6 rioters. Home court advantage: It’s not just the prosecution side where a second Trump administration could operate relatively unfettered. The transformed federal judiciary that produced Monday’s decision — including a conservative Supreme Court supermajority — is just as concerning to Democrats as its contents. Democrats are already warning that whoever wins the White House will likely be able to appoint multiple Supreme Court justices, and they’ve made it part of their election pitch. Even before Monday’s ruling, President Joe Biden called that prospect one of the “scariest” parts of a second Trump administration. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — at 76 and 74, respectively — are already considered prime candidates for retirement, court watchers believe, and Chief Justice John Roberts is not far behind with his 70th birthday approaching. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the two Barack Obama nominees on the court, is also 70, sparking some on the left to call for her immediate retirement, allowing Biden and a Democrat-controlled Senate to fill her seat by the end of the year. Beyond SCOTUS, there are 73 district and circuit court judgeships that are either currently vacant or expected to become vacant. Biden has made nominations for only 30 of them so far — meaning Republicans could quickly put an even bigger stamp on the lower courts, where the bulk of federal legal cases play out. – Jordain Carney and Katherine Tully-McManus with an assist from Ursula Perano
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