No one is above the law. That’s a familiar axiom of American life, and it’s often been bent by the power of wealth and those possessing a wealth of power, but it has never been tested as it is being tested now. If it breaks, then something fundamental to the country’s meaning and function breaks, and repair will not be easy.
But as far as the Republican party and its leading candidate for the presidency, conservative members of the supreme court, and much of the Republican delegation in Congress – that is, parts of all three branches of the federal government – are concerned, someone should be above the law and all of the rest of us should be unequal under the law. It’s part of their larger commitment to inequality as law and culture.
