No. of Recommendations: 3
The "Atlantic" article is correct. However, the key was Hindenburg granting "dictatorial powers" to the Chancellor. With that, once Hindenburg was dead, the Chancellor could do anything he wanted by decree. Which is how the German democracy (Weimar) was taken apart in less than two month.
The scary bit here is that the SCOTUS has granted broad powers and immunities to the Executive that they never had before. Not quite to the level of dictatorial powers, but with no oversight (due to immunity), the Executive could do all sorts of criminal things, and get away with it because no one could access the evidence. Hence, Sotomayor's concern about using assassins for political enemies with impunity.
