The late President Richard Nixon is cackling in his grave today.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president of the United States of America can do virtually anything he wants under the guise of “official duties.”

Apparently, official duties now can include fomenting an insurrection.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Under the new rules, Nixon would have been held immune, would not have resigned, and there would be no President Gerald R. Ford to pardon him, for he did nothing illegal.

Indeed, Nixon’s then-spurious assertion that if “the president does it, then it is not illegal,” would, in fact, be legally correct under the Federalist Society handpicked court we’re currently living under.

If Nixon is guffawing wherever he is, Earl Warren, a former California governor and the 1948 vice presidential running mate of the late Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, is spinning at 10,000 RPMs in his grave.

All of this has conspired to make this July 4 the second-most important July 4 in American history.

Those who want to see some sort of authoritarian dictatorship next Jan. 20 are emboldened. They’ll have a president who arguably could do whatever he wants, when he wants to do it.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Checks and balances? Do you see any with a MAGA Republican Senate and House of Representatives, and a MAGA-enabling Supreme Court? I don’t see anything other........

© San Francisco Chronicle