Supreme Court’s Immunity Gift to Trump: The Ghosts of Nixon, Bork, and Scalia

2024-09-04

Like a hand reaching up from the grave, the recent Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity represents the posthumous triumph of Richard Nixon, Robert Bork, and Antonin Scalia. On thisWhoWhatWhy podcast I examine this constitutional crisis with Brown University law professor Corey Brettschneider, author of The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It.In a ruling that seems to place former presidents bey...

Like a hand reaching up from the grave, the recent Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity represents the posthumous triumph of Richard Nixon, Robert Bork, and Antonin Scalia.

On thisWhoWhatWhy podcast I examine this constitutional crisis with Brown University law professor Corey Brettschneider, author of The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It.In a ruling that seems to place former presidents beyond the reach of criminal law, the court has breathed new life into Nixon’s infamous claim: “When the president does it, it can’t be illegal.”

Brettschneider unravels how the ghosts of conservative legal titans have shaped a ruling that threatens the very foundations of American democracy.

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