America's founding fathers knew how to confer immunity on federal officers. They did it with the "speech and debate" clause of the Constitution. But that immunity is very limited, and applies only to members of Congress. The founders very pointedly did NOT give immunity to presidents of the United States. They had just fought a war for independence from one king, and were not about to create another.

Skip ahead two and a half centuries, and a "conservative" supermajority on the Supreme Court has essentially created an American monarchy. Invoking the magic words "official act" now puts American presidents above and beyond the law.

The recent SCOTUS ruling giving presidents immunity from criminal prosecution for "official acts" is only the latest in a long string of extremist rulings designed to turn this secular democratic republic into a theocratic autocracy. It's not a coincidence that the Roberts court has made it much harder for states to regulate the carrying of guns in public, while at the same time making it legal to not only own military-style assault rifles, but to also increase their killing potential by making them fire at machine gun rates with bump stocks.

This is the same court that gutted the Voting Rights Act, called corporations "people," gave them the ability to pour unlimited amounts of money into electoral politics, and allowed public funds to go to private parochial schools.

How screwed are we? Is there anything to be done? Lee McGowan and her guest Dhalia Lithwick discuss these questions and more in a recent episode of the Politics Girl Podcast. It's worth a listen.

[podcasts.apple.com]