Outrage in the US following the dramatic ruling of the Supreme Court

Spirits are raging in the United States following the ruling published yesterday (Monday) by the US Supreme Court according to which President Trump may have immunity. While Trump called the ruling “a great victory for democracy”, Democratic members of Congress pledged that they would work to remove the judges and weaken the power of the court, the President Joe Biden said it was a “dangerous precedent,” and the minority justices strongly criticized the decision.The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that former President Trump and future presidents enjoy criminal immunity for “official” acts they performed while in office. In view of the ruling, Trump may enjoy immunity in the case of attempting to bias the 2020 election and his involvement in breaking into the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and in his other trials.

The harshest criticism of the ruling seems to have come from within the court itself. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a minority opinion that the ruling “makes a mockery of the principle that no man is above the law,” and that “in every use of his official power, the president has become a king above the law.” Justice Katanji Brown Jackson joined Sotomayor’s minority opinion, adding that the practical implications of the ruling are “a danger to democracy and the normal functioning of government.”

“The decision to grant criminal immunity to presidents reshapes the institution of the presidency. The president directs the military to assassinate a political opponent? Immune. Organizes a military coup? Immune. Even if these threat scenarios do not materialize, the damage has already been done,” Sotomayor wrote, concluding: “Out of fear for democracy ours, I oppose the ruling.”

In his first speech at the White House after the presidential showdown, President Biden condemned the court’s decision: “There are no kings in America. Each of us is equal before the law and no one is above the law, not even the president. The Supreme Court’s decision fundamentally changed that. Practically speaking, There are almost no restrictions on what the president can do. It’s a dangerous precedent.”

Impeachment processes and “close oversight”: the measures that the Democrats promised to promote

Along with the harsh criticism that the ruling provoked in the Democratic Party, some of the legislators in the party pledged that they would take practical steps towards the Supreme Court. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced her intention to act to impeach judges. “The court is suffering from a corruption crisis. Today’s ruling is an attack on American democracy,” the congresswoman wrote on the X network.

Hakeem Jeffries of the Democratic Party, the minority leader in the House of Representatives, pledged that Democratic lawmakers will promote “close oversight of the Supreme Court to ensure that the justices of the far-right majority obey the Constitution.” Other members of Congress have called for expanding the Supreme Court and taking additional steps to weaken its power or change its composition – with the aim of weakening the conservative majority on it.

On the other hand, the Republican Party welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court. Trump called the decision “a great victory for democracy and the constitution”, adding that he is “proud to be an American”. Other Republican lawmakers joined in supporting the ruling, and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson said the ruling is “a big win for President Trump and all future presidents, and another loss for the Department of Justice on behalf of President Biden.”

Court ruling: absolute immunity – only for “official” acts

In its ruling, the US Supreme Court ruled that presidents have immunity for “official” acts they perform during their term of office, and that they do not have immunity for “unofficial” acts. The Supreme Court added that not all acts performed by a president during his term of office are “official”.

The meaning of the ruling is that the lower court presiding over Trump’s trial is the one who will decide which of Trump’s actions are “official” acts, and accordingly it will be determined which of the actions attributed to Trump are subject to immunity. However, in its decision, the Supreme Court stated that it is easy to classify some of the actions attributed to Trump as “official”, while some of the actions attributed to him “raise more difficult questions”. The court also ruled that “official” acts cannot even be used as evidence in a trial against a president, which makes it even more difficult to convict Trump.

The ruling is expected to delay Trump’s trial in the 2020 election bias case and his involvement in breaking into the Capitol, and make it more difficult to convict him in this trial and his other two trials. Hours after the ruling, Trump submitted a request to the New York court to postpone the sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, in which he was convicted on all 34 charges. Trump asked the judge to examine whether the Supreme Court’s ruling might also apply in this case.