The MAGA Carta

May 9, 2024

In June 1215, the “Magna Carta” was the first document that put in writing the principle that the king and his government was not above the law. It sought to prevent the monarch from exploiting power and it placed limits on royal authority by establishing the law as a power in itself. In 1788, the newly ratified U.S constitution incorporated this code of ethics by creating a system based on power by consent of the people through elections, checks and balances, and separation of powers between its three branches. But in coming weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court is going to rule on a petition by Donald Trump that a President should enjoy blanket legal immunity while in office. The former President is hardly a sympathetic petitioner, given his track record of impeachments and criminal charges, but the politicized Court may oblige his wish even though the law is clear. “The Framers did not put an immunity clause into the Constitution,” said Justice Elena Kagan. “They could have but they were reacting against a monarch who claimed to be above the law. Wasn’t the whole point that the president was not supposed to be above the law?”