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In a landmark ruling on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court established that presidential immunity protects a former leader from prosecution for acts conducted while in office. This decision ruled that Donald Trump cannot be held accountable for actions taken during his presidency under the Constitution.
“The nature of presidential power requires that a former president have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office. At least concerning the president’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute,” the ruling stated.
According to CNN, the Trump camp celebrated the decision as a ‘decisive win,’ while President Joe Biden criticized it as a ‘dangerous precedent’ that undermines the fundamental principle of equality before the law.
“There are no kings in America. Each one of us is equal before the law. No one…is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” Biden said during a speech from the White House. “(With) today’s Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed. For all practical purposes, there are virtually no limits on what the president can do. It’s a fundamentally new principle and it’s a dangerous precedent because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law even including the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Biden further expressed his concerns, stating, “I know I will respect the limits of the presidential powers I’ve had for three-and-a-half years, but any president – including Donald Trump – will now be free to ignore the law. The American people must decide if they want to entrust…the presidency to Donald Trump, now knowing that he’ll be even more emboldened to do whatever he pleases whenever he wants to do it.”
He continued, “I concur with Justice (Sonia) Sotomayor’s dissent today. Here’s what she said– ‘In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law. With fear for our democracy, I dissent,’ end of quote. So should the American people dissent. I dissent.” Meanwhile, Trump celebrated the ruling on his Truth Social account, declaring it a ‘big win.’ He wrote, “Big win for our constitution and democracy. Proud to be an American.”
Trump further lauded the decision, saying, “The Supreme Court decision is a much more powerful one than some had expected it to be. It is brilliantly written and wise, and clears the stench from the Biden trials and hoaxes…all of them, that have been used as an unfair attack on crooked Joe Biden’s political opponent – me. Many of these fake cases will now disappear, or wither into obscurity. God Bless America!”
First reported that Chief Justice John Roberts clarified, “The president enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law.” However, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the decision. Sotomayor argued that the court’s ruling “reshapes the institution of the Presidency.”
She added, “It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law.” Sotomayor presented hypothetical scenarios to illustrate her concerns, stating, “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military dissenting coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
