"Appreciating Jackson's role at Nuremberg highlights an important and underappreciated problem in the Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision. Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion wraps itself in the authority and aura of Jackson, a revered justice invoked by Supreme Court nominees ranging from Roberts to Elena Kagan in their confirmation hearings. But Roberts' opinion is a severe distortion of Jackson's legacy-and, indeed, it is no overstatement to say that it is a desecration of Jackson's memory and his heroic service as Nuremberg prosecutor."
"Roberts' opinion relies heavily on Jackson's seminal concurrence in the 1952 steel seizure case, in which the court struck down President Truman's seizure of steel mills during the Korean War. Jackson's concurrence is a linchpin of Roberts' analysis, cited or quoted 10 times. But the court's immunity analysis could not be further from what Jackson stood for on the rule of law, especially in his Nuremberg service."
A new movie about Hermann Göring's war-crimes trial, Nuremberg, will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 7, with Michael Shannon playing Robert H. Jackson. Jackson served as chief U.S. prosecutor at Nuremberg and led a vindication of the rule of law after horrific atrocities. Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion invokes Jackson's authority but distorts his legacy and Nuremberg service. Roberts' opinion relies heavily on Jackson's 1952 steel-seizure concurrence, citing it repeatedly. The immunity decision creates broad absolute presidential immunity for "core" powers, applying even when Congress has criminalized the conduct.
Read at Slate Magazine
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