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Barbed wire and Donald Trump (77): At first glance, the two don’t have much in common – apart from the fact that Trump’s enemies want to see the ex-president behind prison walls fortified with barbed wire.
But on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas authorities must take down a 25-mile border fence on the border with Mexico. In doing so, they overturned a decision made by the state’s Republican government. The Supreme Court gave US President Joe Biden (81) an important victory. And the decision reveals a truth about America’s nine highest judges that Donald Trump has previously refused to acknowledge — and that will likely give him sleepless nights from now on.
The fact that the barbed wire has to be removed should not bother Trump too much. On the contrary: less border fencing means more migration. And more migration gives the hardcore anti-migration candidate more ammunition in his rhetorical battle against the allegedly far too lax Biden administration.
Trump’s hidden threat to the judges
Trump must worry that a majority of the inherently conservative court voted against the border fence and thus against a core Republican issue. This shows that the six Republican judges on the panel of nine do not follow party lines, but make decisions independently. Among the five justices who voted against the barbed wire was Amy Coney Barrett, 51, one of three people Trump personally nominated to the Supreme Court during his time in office.
The same court, whose conservative majority has so far seen Trump as a kind of personal legal protection insurance, will have to decide in the coming weeks whether Trump will even be allowed to participate in this year’s presidential elections. A Colorado court has ruled that he violated the Constitution for his role in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and that he is therefore barred from holding public office.
Trump took the verdict to the Supreme Court, saying, “I fought very hard to get three very, very good people in.” I hope they will be honest.”
The fact that even former Trump protégés like Amy Coney Barrett are now openly breaking with the Republican line is a good sign for the American justice system. The highest authority is independent and its members cannot be intimidated or impressed. They showed this recently when they failed to comply with Trump’s special requests regarding his various charges. He had to make his tax returns public to parliament and hand over documents from his time in office to a parliamentary committee.
For Trump, this independence means potential problems. The court is expected to rule sometime between February 8 (when both sides will present their arguments to the nine justices) and March 5, when fifteen US states will hold their primaries. Politically, almost no one seems able to stop Trump. He should also easily win this week’s New Hampshire primary. But the judge’s decision could abruptly halt his political flight.
Will it be like George Bush?
One thing is already clear: the Supreme Court has not played such a central role in American politics in a long time as it will in 2024. The last time the justices had to intervene was in 2000, when they ruled in favor of the extremely close presidential election George Bush (and not Al Gore) decided.
If the four judges uphold the Colorado ruling, Trump will most likely be blocked as a candidate. What will happen in America then can be guessed by looking at the events of January 6, 2021. At that time, an angry mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Parliament building with loud death threats (“Hang Mike Pence!”), because they believed that Trump had been wrongfully voted out of office.
A court decision against Trump would greatly increase the risk of violent riots. Barbed wire would then suddenly be needed again. Not to stop illegal immigrants, but to stop violent Trump supporters.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
