Two Business Days

It took just two business days to take down democracy. In that time six of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices dramatically changed the American democratic experiment. Just days before July 4th, the country’s annual celebration of the creation of the democratic experience where the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence claiming that the new, young country called America will not be under the control of a King. The Supreme Court just rolled back over 245 years of work.

These six justices, three of whom Trump appointees, weakened federal agencies' ability to safeguard the water Americans drink, the air they breathe, and enforce food, drug safety rules, and worker protections. By the following Monday, the same six had effectively crowned the President a king, granting immunity from criminal prosecution for any acts considered official. The caveat also includes that the Supreme Court is who decides what an official act is.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a scathing dissent that resonated through the courtroom. In a rare and powerful move underscoring the gravity of her words, with deliberate emphasis, she read her dissent aloud. A pointed rebuke to the majority’s decision. Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, the latter penning her own dissent, joined her in this bold stand. Sotomayor's dissent began:

“Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law. Relying on little more than its own misguided wisdom about the need for ‘bold and unhesitating action’ by the President, ante, at 3, 13, the Court gives former President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more. Because our Constitution does not shield a former President from answering for criminal and treasonous acts, I dissent.”

Sotomayor's dissent highlights a profound irony: “There is a twisted irony in saying, as the majority does, that the person charged with ‘tak[ing] Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’ can break them with impunity.” She drives her point home with an evocative declaration: “The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”

This majority decision, fixated on a President’s need for “bold and unhesitating action,” arrives on the heels of Project 2025, a manifesto outlining a radical agenda for the next president’s first 180 days in office.

Since this action by the Supreme Court, Trump has tried hard to distance himself from Project 2025. He claims that he does not back the project, has not idea who is involved in the project, and it has nothing to to with him. Despite the fact that over 100 high MAGA donor organizations are behind the project that was written by a cadre of players that were deeply involved in his presidential administrative staff and that his name appears over 300 times within the document’s 900 pages.

It is not a simple policy proposal; it is a meticulously crafted blueprint funded by billionaire money and orchestrated by a coalition of right-wing nonprofit groups. The Project aims to replace tens of thousands of veteran federal agency personnel with political appointees, dismantle climate change research, and strip federal agencies of their rule-making and enforcement powers—precisely the outcome the Supreme Court's decision facilitated last Friday.

In her dissent, Sotomayor is not just voicing opposition; she is sounding the alarm about the future of American democracy and the dangerous precedents now being set. The decision, she implies, is more than a legal misstep; it is a fundamental reshaping of the balance of power, turning the President into an unchecked sovereign, contrary to the very foundations of the Constitution.

This extraordinary and historic move by the Supreme Court justices appears to set the stage for “Project 2025,” the 900-page manifesto crafted primarily by the ultra-right Heritage Foundation.

Although Trump continues to deny any involvement in creating Project 2025, Journalist Judd Legum has identified “the 31 authors and editors of Project 2025” who held positions in or were connected to Trump’s first administration.

Project 2025, known formally as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, is being led by the Heritage Foundation—a right-wing nonprofit with a controversial history. Another key player in Project 2025 is the Heartland Institute, a prominent climate denial group heavily funded by Koch-related entities. Charles Koch, the Chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, a major fossil fuels conglomerate, has been known to use front groups to undermine environmental protections. Charles Koch, along with his late brother David Koch, and various foundations and trusts associated with them, have funneled millions into the Heritage Foundation over the years.

In 2012, the New York Times exposed leaked documents from the Heartland Institute, revealing plans to introduce a climate change-skeptical curriculum in high schools. These documents also showed that the Charles Koch Foundation had donated $25,000 in 2011 and was expected to contribute $200,000 in 2012. Additionally, the Heartland Institute has received over $26 million from two Koch-related dark money groups, Donors Capital Fund and Donors Trust, according to the Conservative Transparency Project's analysis of IRS filings.

Notably, the Heritage Foundation secretly paid Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, over $1 million from 1999 to 2007. Clarence Thomas was obligated to disclose these payments on his annual financial disclosure forms, yet he failed to do so until January 2011, and only when watchdog groups brought the issue to light, prompting him to file an amended disclosure. Just within the last few days, New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.

This isn't the first time the Heritage Foundation has handed a detailed agenda to a new President. In 1984, Heritage Foundation head Ed Feulner, in a C-SPAN interview, described how their “Mandate for Leadership” was given to Reagan’s team shortly after the 1980 election, outlining specific administrative actions.

Reports indicate that the 1980 “Mandate for Leadership” included loyalty programs and domestic spying. Feulner proudly noted that by 1981, over 62% of their recommendations were enacted by the Reagan administration. Feulner, who led the Heritage Foundation from 1977 to 2013, continues to serve on its Board of Trustees.

In Michael Moore’s film “Capitalism: A Love Story,” Reagan’s subservience to power brokers is highlighted through an incident where Treasury Secretary Donald Regan instructs Reagan during a speech. Regan, a former Merrill Lynch CEO, served as Reagan’s Treasury Secretary and later Chief of Staff, and was often seen as the true power behind the presidency.

In 1984, the Heritage Foundation operated on a $10 million budget. By 2022, its revenues had surged to $106 million, significantly amplifying its influence. The Mellon family's wealth, notably Timothy Mellon’s $75 million donation to Trump’s Super PAC MAGA Inc., has been instrumental in advancing this agenda.

The Mellon fortune, originating from banking and Gulf Oil, has been a significant benefactor to the Heritage Foundation. From 1985 to 2022, the Sarah [Mellon] Scaife Foundation donated $35.765 million to Heritage. Ed Feulner has long been a trustee of this foundation.

Richard [Mellon] Scaife, son of Sarah Mellon Scaife, was Vice Chairman of the Heritage Foundation for 29 years until his death in 2014. The Mellon family has also funded numerous climate-denial and fossil fuel-friendly groups associated with the Charles Koch network. Charles Koch, with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $59.2 billion, wields significant influence in Washington, often acting as a puppet master behind the scenes.

Senator Bernie Sanders recognized the Koch brothers' threat to democracy over a decade ago. In a video from the Senate floor, Sanders warned Americans about the dangers posed by the Koch brothers and the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which allowed billionaires to flood U.S. elections with unlimited campaign funds.

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