Donald Trump Immunity: Supreme Court Rules Presidents Can Get Away With Murder
After months of waiting, the Supreme Court has ruled that former president Donald Trump has some immunity from prosecution as long as he commits official acts. However, prosecutors can go after the president as long as the crime is from an unofficial act, such as acts committed by the president as a candidate for re-election.
Legal experts sounded the alarm soon after, warning that this sets rules allowing presidents to commit crimes and say they are official acts. An example would be, theoretically, Joe Biden would be allowed to send SEAL Team 6 to assassinate his political rival, Donald Trump, and he would get away with it because it is an official act. In other words, theoretically, a president can get away with murder as long as it is an official act.
According to BBC News, the nine Supreme Court justices voted 6-3 on the ruling, but the majority did not outright dismiss an indictment that charges Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election. However, this did partially strip away key elements of the cases against him.
The justices ruled that a president has immunity for "official acts" but is not immune for "unofficial acts," before referring the matter back to a trial judge. The decision now makes it less likely that the January 6 insurrection case will go to trial before the November election.
"The President is now a king above the law," wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissenting opinion, in which she strongly expressed her "fear for our democracy."
"Immune, immune, immune. They just handed Donald Trump keys to a dictatorship," said deputy Biden campaign manager Quentin Fulks in a phone call with the media.
Supreme Court Ruling on Donald Trump Immunity Could Set Dangerous Precedent, Warn Democrats
Others are also ringing the alarm as the Supreme Court decision could erode the system of checks and balances that the United States government has. This includes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who wrote on X, "No one, including the twice-impeached former president, should be above the law. The constitution is sacredly obligatory upon all. That's what makes America special."
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The Guardian noted that "he conservative supermajority, with half its justices appointed by Donald Trump, was in the driver's seat - strengthening the power of the presidency in its immunity ruling for Trump, and overturning precedent in a dramatic blow to the administrative state."
Supreme Court Ruling Also Means Presidents Could Still Be Impeached and Is Not Fully Immune
Despite the ruling, however, this only means that the judicial branch could not go after the president on official acts. Any crime a president commits as an official act would still be subject to impeachment.
In his decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, "Impeachment is a political process by which Congress can remove a president, transforming that political process into a necessary step in the enforcement of criminal law finds little support in the text of the constitution or the structure of our government."
However, he also noted that "a president who evades impeachment for one reason or another," such as by resigning from office before an impeachment proceeding got underway, would "never be held accountable for his criminal acts."
Experts say this is also dangerous as a president could be saved by his political allies who would be voting along party lines, no matter how guilty the president is. This means that theoretically if Joe Biden has Donald Trump assassinated, the Republican-majority House could impeach him. However, he could be absolved by the Democrat-majority Senate for political reasons.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: Supreme Court rules on Trump immunity case. Here's what the decision means - 13WMAZ