"In every use of official power, the
president is now a king above the law," warned Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
"With fear for our democracy, I dissent."
JAKE JOHNSON for Common Dreams
Writing for the majority in the 6-3
decision, Chief Justice John Roberts declared that Trump "may not be
prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled,
at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official
acts."
But Sotomayor countered in her dissent that
the majority distorted the concept of core constitutional powers "beyond
any recognizable bounds," effectively granting Trump the sweeping immunity
he demanded as he faces charges for attempting to subvert the 2020 presidential
election in a failed last-ditch bid to remain in power.
"When he uses his official powers in
any way, under the majority's reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal
prosecution," Sotomayor wrote. "Orders the Navy's SEAL Team 6 to
assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto
power? Immune. Immune, immune, immune."
"In every use of official power, the
president is now a king above the law," the justice added. "With fear
for our democracy, I dissent."
The New York Times noted that the high court "has remanded the case to the federal district court judge overseeing the matter, Tanya Chutkan, to determine the nature of the acts for which former President Trump has been charged—which are unofficial ones he undertook in his personal capacity and which are official ones he undertook as president."
The high court's ruling, which came after
months of delays, all but forecloses the possibility of Trump facing trial
for election subversion charges before
the November presidential contest. The progressive advocacy group MoveOn said
the conservative supermajority's decision to punt the case back to the lower
court makes the justices "complicit in Trump's plan to delay any legal
accountability until after the election."
Two of the court's right-wing
justices—Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito—faced calls to recuse from
the case but rejected them.
"Donald Trump incited the deadly
January 6 insurrection and the MAGA Supreme Court continues to do everything in
their power to stop him from facing accountability for attempting to overthrow
our government," said Rahna Epting, executive director of MoveOn Political
Action. "Nobody is above the law, especially not Trump. MAGA extremists in
Congress and the courts have made it clear there will be no checks or balances
on Trump and the only hope for American democracy is the people coming together
to defeat him in November."
Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president
at Public Citizen, added in a statement that
"Trump versus the United States is a fitting name for this case."
"There is no better way to
characterize Trump's attempt to upend the Constitution and rule of law as we
know it," Gilbert said. "Today's ruling is a blow to U.S. democracy.
But it's not a final blow by any means. Trump can and should still be held
accountable for his role in the violence on January 6 in an attempt to overturn
the 2020 election and stop a peaceful transfer of power."
In an amicus brief submitted
in April, Public Citizen noted that the president "has no specific,
constitutionally assigned role in the conduct of presidential elections,"
making "any assertion that a president's authority empowers him to
conspire to overturn the result of a valid election and retain power beyond his
term in office... absurd."
"Accepting a view of the outer limits
of presidential authority that would sweep in a conspiracy to overturn an
election and remain in office unlawfully would have exceptionally broad
implications and threaten severe damage to our constitutional democracy,"
the group warned.