The Supreme Court releases a key decision on presidential immunity, and President Joe Biden's reactions to the first debate.
In Trump immunity case, Supreme Court says presidents shielded for official acts, but not unofficial ones
In Donald Trump's immunity case, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that presidents are shielded from prosecution for official acts, but not unofficial ones.
The case was sent back to a lower court, further delaying the historic prosecution against the Republican ex-president on charges that he sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters.
Trump faces four felony counts in the Washington, D.C., case filed by special counsel Jack Smith, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, two charges related to obstructing an official proceedings and conspiracy against rights. Monday's ruling comes after the Supreme Court last week narrowed the federal obstruction statute faced by Trump and hundreds of other Jan. 6 defendants.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied any wrongdoing. The high court's order sends the case to lower courts to determine if Trump can still face charges based on Monday's ruling.
The ruling was 6-3 along the high court's ideological lines, with Trump's three appointed conservative justices ruling in favor, but the three liberal justices on the bench dissenting.
"Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority," the ruling, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, reads. "And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts."
The high court had previously held that presidents should be shielded from civil liability, but had never weighed in on criminal culpability until Monday.
As GOP celebrates immunity ruling, Biden campaign says Supreme Court 'handed Donald Trump the keys to a dictatorship'
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign delivered a sharp rebuke of the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity released Monday, arguing the high court “handed Donald Trump the keys to a dictatorship” and pledging to take the issue on the trail ahead of November.
“The Supreme Court just gave Trump a permission slip to assassinate and jail whoever he wants to gain power,” Biden’s Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks told reporters on a call about an hour after the high court handed down the ruling, which found presidents are shielded from prosecution for official acts but not unofficial ones.
In the 6-3 decision, which saw the high court's three liberal justices dissent, the case was sent back to a lower court, further delaying the historic prosecution against former President Donald Trump on charges that he sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters.
“It is a sweeping and devastating opinion for our separation of powers and for our fundamental belief and notion that no one is above the law,” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., argued to reporters on Monday’s call. “The implication of it is significant – there will certainly not be a trial before the election.”
The Biden team highlighted liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent in which she argued the ruling “creates a law-free zone around the President,” noting under the decision a commander in chief will be immune from acts such as ordering the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, organizing a military coup or taking a bribe in exchange for a pardon.
“According to this decision, if it's an official act to ask his Justice Department to jail his political opponents, he's immune. If it's an official act to have his Homeland Security Department round up Latinos in detention camps and deport them for no reason, he'd be immune for that,” Fulks argued. “If it's an official act to have his vice president overturn the fair and free results of an election, he's immune to that.”
Fulks later argued that the decision can be seen as an “amplifier” to the case the Biden campaign has been making that Trump wants to be a dictator, wants “unchecked power" and is thus a threat to democracy.
Biden spent weekend rallying Democrats, retreating with family after debate
President Joe Biden had the kind of weekend on which history pivots — trying to stabilize his campaign after his shaky debate performance against former President Donald Trump, then gathering with family as previously planned at a secluded mountain retreat where they discussed the path forward.
The 81-year-old Democrat went into the Thursday night debate hoping to banish questions about his advanced age. But his meandering and at times incoherent answers only generated new fears that Democrats were stumbling toward a brutal loss in November's election and led to talk that he should bow out of the race.
The weekend had a frantic urgency, with Biden promising donors he would simply be "fighting harder." The Democratic National Committee hosted a call with party leaders that had such an upbeat tone that it left some supporters feeling gaslighted. Major media outlets such as The New York Times and The New Yorker publicly called for Biden to withdraw.