Even out of power, Donald Trump seems to think he is The King and the Supreme Court is now the Court of King’s Bench.
Like many of us, I tuned in to the Republican National Convention on July 18 and listened to the former president deliver his acceptance speech.
It was draped in propaganda, coded (and not so coded) in offensive language and exponentially unhinged in a manner that the former president has now somehow managed to make entirely far too predictable.
As I watched Number 45 on this evening and those prior, he had the smirk of an entitled court jester and the gaze of a monarch. It became very clear that Trump truly fashions himself a totalitarian ruler of sorts, standing above the law in any way, shape or form — perhaps even ordained by God.
Unfortunately, thanks to our modern-day Supreme Court, and its recent decision to grant Trump broad presidential immunity from prosecution, Trump’s potential to win the presidency and rule like a tyrant is more possible than ever.
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This is a good moment, therefore, to explain what the only American who served both as president and Supreme Court chief justice — my great-grandfather William Howard Taft — might make of Trump’s power play.
Constitutional scholar Jeffrey Rosen stated that my great grandfather was "the only president to approach the office in constitutional terms above all.”
Taft wasn’t even that enamored with the presidency and the power that came with it.
His personal end goal and desire was to serve on the Supreme Court, which he did from 1921 to 1930. To him, it was the ultimate honor to protect our Constitution through the judiciary branch, rather than through pure executive power.
Taft was an outlier among Republicans generally and presidents specifically. It’s safe to say that the majority of U.S. presidents had no desire to hold any office post-presidency except, perhaps, the presidency again, as Trump so clearly does.
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No president since Taft has served on the Supreme Court or even held another elected office. Trump has shown particular disinterest in any office outside that of the presidency, as indicated by the fact that the only elected office he’s ever formally sought … is the presidency. This may be one reason Trump seems to know little about, and care little for, the particulars of our Constitution — something Taft revered.
Unlike Trump, Taft used his power of the presidency not to remake the Supreme Court in his own ideological image. Instead, he sought to infuse it with competency.
Second to George Washington, Taft made the most appointments to the Supreme Court by appointing six justices in a court of nine during his single four-year term, which stretched from 1909 to 1913. These appointments were not political; Taft selected members of both party affiliations as he prioritized the appointment of the finest of judicial minds, with elite moral compasses, to best uphold the Constitution.
While Taft saw the Supreme Court as our founding fathers intended, Trump sees it oppositely.
Trump views the Supreme Court as a political vehicle for personal protection, one that’s a tool — weapon, even — to support his complete authoritative rule. This approach is much more like the English Monarchy’s Court of King’s Bench than something … American. This is the very protocol the framers of our Constitution sought to amend. When the British Monarchy’s reign was at its apex, the Court of King’s Bench was the individual court of enforcement for his royal highness. This would have been William Howard Taft’s nightmare — yet reflects rump’s greatest personal desire as president.
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Our nation’s 27th president and 10th Supreme Court chief justice is often credited with being the one who gave today’s court much of its power. Taft ushered in an age when the court selects and prioritizes the cases that it wishes to hear. He also pushed for the Supreme Court to be housed in a building and location of stature which reflected both the institution’s significance. Was Taft a bit self interested in this push as he found the previous basement floor conditions of the Supreme Court offices subpar to that which he had become accustomed tin the White House? Yes, but more fervently he had a vision for the Supreme Court to embody that of an autonomous branch of government and he found that an independent structure — the columned building, opened in 1935, that we all recognize today — would optically achieve just that.
As president, Taft believed that the utmost legislative power belonged to Congress rather than the executive branch. He also believed that it was pivotal for the judiciary branch to remain independent from both. A system of checks and balances is the backbone of our government. Thus, the relationship between the executive and judicial branches, especially in regards to the Supreme Court, is not one of quid pro quo.
This is what Trump and the current Supreme Court majority seem to be getting dangerously wrong. The British Monarchy is granted immunity from being prosecuted for criminal or civil offenses. Taft, Trump or any future president should not.
Unconstitutionally, Trump believes that he “can do no wrong,” and now, thanks to the un-American sovereignty granted to him by the Supreme Court, he will now be above the law. Trump is a potentate in waiting, and under a Trump reign, he will do everything he can to transform our republic into an autocracy.
My great-grandfather would be aghast.
Patricia Taft is the granddaughter of Sen. Robert A. Taft Sr. and great-granddaughter of President William Howard Taft. Based in Los Angeles, she is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Society of Presidential Descendants and Board of Directors for the National First Ladies Day Commission.
