When the chief justice of the US supreme court, John Roberts, delivered his bombshell ruling last July granting Donald Trump absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, he laid out his vision of an expansive presidency. The executive, he wrote, should be “vigorous and energetic”, and free to carry out duties “boldly and fearlessly”.
If that sums up Roberts’ ideal occupant of the Oval Office, then he has certainly got what he wants in the 47th president. In his first month back, Trump has vigorously fired tens of thousands of federal workers; energetically ignored congressional statutes; boldly run roughshod over the constitution; and fearlessly unleashed Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, in a slash-and-burn campaign against the US government.
Trump has done more than that – he has opened a Pandora’s box that might, in time, give the chief justice pause. The president has indicated that he has another target in his sights: the very judiciary over which Roberts presides.
