SCOTUS Immunity Decision Is Shameful And Destructive Of The Rule Of Law
When the Supreme Court, last December, following a federal district court decision in United States v. Trump, rejected the request of Special Counsel Jack Smith to consider former President Donald Trump’s immunity claim for direct review on an expedited basis, it set the stage for today’s Court decision.
The Court’s Republican-appointed majority has shown zero interest in the public’s right to know before they vote in November whether presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is or is not a convicted felon for his alleged criminal activities to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Instead, the Republican-appointed majority in a 6-to-3 decision has made sure that there will be no Trump criminal trial before the election and potentially no trial ever, if Trump wins the election and instructs his Justice Department to drop the case.
Thus, thanks to the opinion of the Court’s majority, Trump may never be held accountable for his alleged criminal activity – which involved an unprecedented presidential coup attempt.
Furthermore, the majority’s opinion has turned on its head the foundational principle in our country that no person, not even a President, is above the law.
In his opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts states that the ruling recognizes that no President is above the law and that it is a relatively narrow ruling.
The opinion itself, however, starkly contradicts both of these claims. The Chief Justice is fooling no one with his empty rhetoric.
The idea that a President has at least presumptive immunity for his criminal acts if they fall within the broad scope of his official duties, as the Court holds in this opinion, gives license to a President to engage in widespread criminal conduct.
As Justice Sonia Sotomayor points out in her dissent:
“When [the President] uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
Justice Sotomayor’s dissent also states: “The court effectively creates a law-free zone around the President, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the Founding.”
Our country was founded on the powerful principles that our nation would have no king and no person would be above the law.
The Republican appointed-majority in this opinion has wreaked havoc with those foundational principles. They have opened the door to a President exercising wide dictatorial powers without any ultimate legal accountability for his actions.
The Supreme Court majority’s decision today is shameful and destructive of the rule of law. Our democracy has been dangerously harmed by its misguided decision.
