The Supreme Court from Hell, Part V: Permission to Torture
This Supreme Court rarely delivers justice. It never delivers mercy.
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Today’s 6-3 decision—a one-paragraph death and torture sentence—allows the Trump administration to circumvent federal law and an international treaty to send unconvicted, alleged migrants to prison outside the USA and not in their home countries. In response Justice Elena Sotomayor wrote a scathing 19-page dissent labelling the decision “gross abuse,” which is accurate but a staggering understatement. At issue was the fate of an allegedly illegal alien to be sent to South Sudan, home to one of the world’s most brutal penal systems in which torture is routing and terrigying in scope. It will strike fear in the hearts of all brown people—and it should strike in the hearts of every American, no matter who you think you are.
Writes Vox:
Federal law requires that the United States shall not “expel, extradite, or otherwise effect the involuntary return of any person to a country in which there are substantial grounds for believing the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” This statute implements a treaty, known as the Convention Against Torture, which the United States ratified over three decades ago.
Trump’s lawyers, however, claim that they uncovered a loophole that permits the Trump administration to bypass these laws, at least with respect to some immigrants.
This is supposed to be a temporary permission, while immigration and rights cases play out in the courts.
However, death is permanent and torture is a crime against humanity at all times. And this craven court has just given permission to a punisher government to subject people they don’t like to any form of mistreatment, now matter how debased.
If this is a portent of things to come in addressing Trump’s abuses of power and people, we—ALL OF US—are in very serious trouble.
Here are a few of our other articles on this Supreme Court, all variations on the same them: these people are not playing by the Constitution: they carrying a Radical Right playbook that empowers white supremacy, male supremacy and oligarchy. Read them and weep.
The Supreme Court from Hell, Part I
Had I known more of the history I’m about to tell you, I should never have felt as safe with the Supreme Court of the United States as I have. I confess that I always believed they would come through, that they would do what is just. They would stand up for the rights implied by any sane, present-day understanding of …
The Supreme Court from Hell, Part II
If you haven’t read Part I, just click below. …
The Supreme Court from Hell, Part III
Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied
The bottom line, as the adage points out, is that justice delayed is justice denied. If Trump can use a watered down, ambiguous Supreme Court immunity decision that delays prosecution of an insurrection case, the justices essentially allow Trump to invoke the tactics espoused by Steve Bannon: If the med…
The Supreme Court from Hell, Part IV: Clarence (and Ginni) Thomas
We’re going to take a quick look at Clarence Thomas, whose misogyny first revealed itself in the “Coke…
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They are NOT the supreme court. They are rubber stamp for a racist and lawless regime .