With so many “unprecedented” events occurring these past few years, it’s become repetitive and tiresome to claim that yet another major historical moment has passed in America. And yet, this week’s Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity has certainly and fundamentally altered the character of this nation and the separation of powers that has been so fundamental to its success for over 200 years. So 248 years since this nation declared independence from a king, let’s examine how the conservatives on the Supreme Court have essentially paved the way for another king.

What Exactly Happened?

As you all know by now, the former president was indicted for (among many other things) his attempts the overthrow the last election and install himself unlawfully as president. His lawyers tried to block this trial by saying that as president he gets immunity and so cannot be prosecuted. Presidents already get immunity from civil trials (when one person sues another), since courts don’t want presidents to be tied down fighting litigation their whole terms. But now, Trump was arguing that he should never be allowed to be prosecuted for ANYTHING while he was president. As a nation that prides itself on the idea that nobody is above the law, this would seem like a bad idea.

But the ultra-conservative majority on the Supreme Court, which already granted Trump a huge win by delaying his criminal case, has now tipped the scales even further by saying that all presidents have full immunity from prosecution of their official acts. Yes, this does include current presidents like Biden, but nobody should be celebrating this ridiculous ruling. Those who celebrate this as a “win” for Trump will find that authoritarian movements are never your friend forever.

What This Means for the Trump Case

It’s not good. Many of the allegations against him deal with “official acts.” These are things like conversations he had with the Justice Department to overthrow the election. Now these actions are considered immune, so Trump telling his Attorney General to threaten swing state governors with arrest if they don’t comply with his orders is perfectly legal. Even worse, actions like that can’t even be used as evidence against him. There are probably still some actions that can be considered “unofficial” for which Trump could still be prosecuted, but proving any of those just became extremely hard. And we still need to figure out what is considered “official” and “unofficial.” Those determinations will certainly be sent back to the Supreme Court to make the final decision. It’s not hard to imagine that such a far-right court will be much more likely to consider Republican presidential acts as “official” and Democratic acts as “unofficial.” The case is still alive for now, but certainly won’t be finished before the election, and possibly not at all.

What This Means for the Presidency

The office of the president was already extremely powerful before, but now the ability of one person to fundamentally change the country is immense. The radical conservatives on the Supreme Court have essentially placed the president above the law. Actions like granting pardons, starting criminal investigations, and deploying the military can now be done without ANY regard for their legality. Though the radical Supreme Court majority waived away extreme hypotheticals like political assassinations, the shocking horror is that such a thing is not necessarily impossible. Trump has already called for military tribunals of his political opponents, so are we really that sure he isn’t going to find some loyalists in the military to take such drastic measures? The authors of the Constitution were keenly aware of the need to limit executive power. The office of the presidency is the most susceptible for abuse, and making it immune from any meaningful consequence destroys what little constraints remain on absolute presidential power. In short, presidents are now allowed to fuck around, and will almost certainly never find out.

What this Means for Democracy

It is not “alarmist” to say that this is a grave problem for our democracy. From now on, we must do everything we can to ensure that the only people elected to the presidency are those who would use such immense power for the good of all, rather than their own personal gain. Otherwise, we will be all but helpless in the face of a president who knows he can do almost anything and get away with it. Trump was reckless, spiteful, and self-serving the first time around when he had to be careful to stay out of too much trouble. There will be no restraint this time around.

We have a clear choice this November. As a historian, I’ve seen these trends before. If we elect those who would abuse this near-absolute power, we will approach the endgame of democracy. This Independence Day, let’s pull ourselves back from the edge and ensure we can keep this republic for ourselves and our future.