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@JoeW society isn't controlled by laws, its controlled by humans. Said person could be thrown into jail and the law could simply be ignored at will, if enough people think that's the right course of action. It would be a completely unprecedented situation and the punishment could also be completely unprecedented.
– JonathanReez
Commented Jul 3 at 18:05
3

@JoeW a President killing their opponent willy-nilly is such a massive violation of norms that the Supreme Court will no longer be powerful enough to protect said President against retaliation.
– JonathanReez
Commented Jul 3 at 19:42
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And the concern is if they do it through an official act that they would be immune from criminal punishment for it. While you say it is such a volitation of norms it wasn't that long ago that we thought it would be unthinkable for any president to try and overturn the results of an election that they didn't win.
– Joe W
Commented Jul 3 at 21:34
2

In this case, we're not talking a "piece of paper" law, but rather a court ruling setting a "precedent". This a key feature of the common law system at work - which countries who inherited their legal system from England have. In this system, laws as they are intended to work, are most definitely not confined to what is written
– Pete W
Commented Jul 4 at 0:12
3

In the US its very likely that such an assassination will be seen as extremely controversial and society will find a way to remove such a President from power. — I hope that is true today, but even if it is, democratic decline can go quickly and it may not be true in the future. Getting rid of a dictator is possible (as history has clearly shown), but it is quite risky to assume that society will find a way to do so (the way it is phrased makes it sound easy). This way might go through civil war.
– gerrit
Commented Jul 5 at 7:14

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