In their dissents from the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity, the court’s liberal justices suggested that the majority opinion allows for a slew of alarming scenarios.
In their dissents from the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity, the court’s liberal justices suggested that the majority opinion allows for a slew of alarming scenarios — including a president ordering a Navy SEAL team to “assassinate” his political rival or even poisoning one of his own cabinet members.
The high court on Monday ruled 6-3 that a president has substantial immunity for official acts that occurred during his time in office. It’s a decision that has significant implications for former President Trump, whose prosecution on charges related to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach and alleged 2020 election interference spurred the Supreme Court to hear the case.
But although the majority opinion from Chief Justice John Roberts explicitly stated that the president “is not above the law” and immunity is only a factor when it involves an “official act” — the justices sent the case back to lower courts to determine if the acts at the center of Trump’s case were “official” — the ruling raised a series of frightening possibilities, according to the trio of dissenting justices.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elana Kagan wrote in the primary dissent that the court’s majority opinion “makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law.
