Right, that's why I said "the executive branch" rather than e.g. "Trump himself". I.e. if there's a clear chain of evidence from the adjudicator to the politici

Right, that's why I said "the executive branch" rather than e.g. "Trump himself". I.e. if there's a clear chain of evidence from the adjudicator to the politicians, then SCOTUS would really have to pivot hard on many fundamental constitutional questions. Only a GOP-first, conservative-second court would do that. The current conservative wing of the court is very much conservative-first. I should've been more explicit about my meaning :)