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Page Number: 117.0

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TRUMP v. UNITED STATES 

JACKSON, J., dissenting 

flexes those very powers. 

The vision John Adams enshrined in the Massachusetts 
Declaration  of  Rights—“ ‘a  government  of  laws  and  not  of 
men’ ”—speaks directly to this concept.  Mine Workers, 330 
U. S., at 307 (Frankfurter, J., concurring in judgment).  Ad-
ams characterized that document as an homage to the Rule
of Law; it reflected both a flat “rejection in positive terms of
rule by fiat” and a solemn promise that “[e]very act of gov-
ernment  may  be  challenged  by  an  appeal  to  law.”  Id.,  at 
308.  Thanks to the majority, that vision and promise are 
likely to be fleeting in the future.  From this day forward,
Presidents  of  tomorrow  will  be  free  to  exercise  the  Com-
mander-in-Chief powers, the foreign-affairs powers, and all
the  vast  law  enforcement  powers  enshrined  in  Article  II 
however they please—including in ways that Congress has 
deemed  criminal  and  that  have  potentially  grave  conse-
quences for the rights and liberties of Americans. 

IV 
To the extent that the majority’s new accountability par-
adigm  allows  Presidents  to  evade  punishment  for  their 
criminal acts while in office, the seeds of absolute power for 
Presidents have been planted.  And, without a doubt, abso-
lute power corrupts absolutely.  “If one man can be allowed 
to determine for himself what is law, every man can.  That 
means first chaos, then tyranny.”  Id., at 312.  Likewise, “[i]f 
the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt 
for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; 
it invites anarchy.”  Olmstead, 277 U. S., at 485 (Brandeis, 
J., dissenting).  I worry that, after today’s ruling, our Nation 
will reap what this Court has sown.

Stated simply: The Court has now declared for the first
time in history that the most powerful official in the United
States can (under circumstances yet to be fully determined)
become a law unto himself.  As we enter this uncharted ter-
ritory, the People, in their wisdom, will need to remain ever