American democracy is hanging in the “balance” as the Supreme Court weighs arguments in Donald Trump’s presidential immunity case, MSNBC guest Eddie Glaude declared on Thursday.
The author and Princeton University professor was part of a panel reacting to morning arguments made before the Supreme Court in which the former president’s lawyers claimed he possessed absolute immunity as president amid his ongoing legal woes and dozens of criminal charges.
During the Thursday panel discussion, Glaude took a moment to step away from vote predictions and analysis of legal arguments and warned, “we’re at the heart of American democracy right now” with the Supreme Court’s coming decision against the backdrop of tension-filled protests across the country and Trump being the first former president to land in a criminal courtroom with his hush money trial in Manhattan.
“We’re talking about the scope of presidential power, we’re talking about the nature of separation of powers, we’re at the heart of American democracy right now,” Glaude said. “So we’re watching this and it’s high drama, but it’s also happening against the backdrop of protests all throughout the country, the first time we’ve ever seen a president in a courthouse. This is really American democracy in the balance.”
He added he’s more interested in implications beyond just the Supreme Court case.
“As an American, I’m trying to figure out what my gut is saying. Where are we as a country?” he said.
MSNBC legal analyst Charles Coleman argued Supreme Court Justices were asking pointed-enough questions that they know the impact their decision will have.
“They know how monumental this moment is,” he said.
There were several tense moments during Thursday’s proceeding as the judges grilled Trump’s team on the implications of absolute immunity.
Watch above via MSNBC.
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