Sotomayor says the president can now ‘assassinate a political rival’ without facing prosecution
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the conservative majority’s Trump immunity ruling went too far.
In her dissenting opinion to the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that the conservative majority had enabled presidents to assassinate political rivals without fear of criminal prosecution.
In a 6-3 decision released on Friday that broke down along ideological lines, the court found that presidents enjoy “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution” for actions taken within their constitutional authority and at least “presumptive immunity” for all other official acts.
Sotomayor, joined by fellow liberal Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, argued that the decision created a “law-free zone around the President.”
“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. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
“Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done,” she continued. “The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”
The decision came as the result of a lawsuit from former President Donald Trump, who faces federal charges in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s lawyers had argued that he was immune from criminal prosecution over those efforts because they fell within the scope of his official duties.
The court’s ruling represents a victory for Trump. The conservative majority found that some of his actions, including his efforts to use the Justice Department to pressure states to replace certain state’s electors with pro-Trump electors, are “absolutely immune” from prosecution.
But other aspects of that effort, including his communications with state officials, could be subject to prosecution: It will be up to a lower court to decide.
