Biden says Supreme Court’s immunity ruling for Trump undermines rule of law
Joe Biden has described the Supreme Court’s ruling granting former President Donald Trump partial immunity from criminal prosecution as a “dangerous precedent”.
The current US president said the ruling undermined the “rule of law” and was a “terrible disservice” to the American people.
Trump earlier hailed the court’s ruling as a “big victory” for democracy.
The justices found on Monday that the president was immune for “official acts” but not for “unofficial acts,” and sent the matter back to the trial judge.
The verdict will further delay the criminal case against Trump for allegedly trying to undermine the 2020 election results that gave Biden a victory.
The trial judge must now determine what actions were taken while Mr Trump was president, a process that could take months. Any trial is unlikely to begin before the November election.
This is a huge boost for Donald Trump — a “big win,” as he put it on his social media platform Truth Social.
The Supreme Court ruled that all former presidents enjoy partial immunity from criminal prosecution—full immunity applies to acts performed as part of the president’s official duties, but “unofficial acts” in a personal capacity are not protected.
A lower court judge will now have to decide which aspects of the president’s conduct are relevant to criminal prosecution as he is accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Trump was accused of inciting the riot at the U.S. Capitol through his tweets and statements on January 6, 2021. But the court ruled that his speech and social media activity that day were all official acts.
Three liberal justices on the Supreme Court strongly disagreed with the decision. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said: “The president is now a king above the law.”
A White House spokesman echoed President Biden’s view that “no one is above the law.”
Democratic Congresswoman Judy Chu said the consequences of the court’s ruling will be far-reaching.
“This is a victory for Donald Trump, and a real blow to democracy in the United States. The implications of this decision are huge. If a president says in any official capacity that they want to do something that we consider inappropriate and criminal, they can be excused from the actions that they take,” she said.
The court’s six-to-three ruling — a landmark decision that split along party lines — does not dismiss the charges against the former president but will significantly delay any trial — if it goes ahead — until after the November 5 election.
The ruling will also apply to other ongoing criminal prosecutions against Donald Trump, involving classified documents found at his Florida home, and the case in Georgia, where he is accused of conspiring to overturn his narrow election defeat in that state.
