(LibertySociety.com) – Far-left Democrats are claiming the July 1 Supreme Court ruling regarding presidential immunity gives the president the authority to order the assassination of Supreme Court Justices and their political opponents.
The 6-3 ruling in favor of former President Donald Trump states that presidents, while in office, “are covered by limited immunity from criminal prosecutions.”
In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that a president has absolute immunity “for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority.” The ruling noted that a president has “at least presumptive immunity” for official acts but “no immunity for unofficial acts.”
In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the ruling means that presidents will be able to have their political opponents assassinated without fear of criminal prosecution. She wrote that the ruling means a president is immune from requesting ordering “Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival.” She claimed the majority’s decision would have “disastrous consequences for the presidency and for our democracy.” Sotomayor, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Justice Elena Kagan stated the ruling created a “law-free zone around the President.”
Roberts noted that their dissenting opinion was fearmongering, noting its “tone of chilling doom” that is disproportionate to the ruling.
Constitutional law expert and Georgetown University law professor Cliff Sloan agreed with Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion, claiming the ruling protects a president from criminal prosecution “for a wide range of truly dangerous and nefarious actions.”
Former White House counsel for former President Richard Nixon, John Dean, called the ruling “radical,” agreeing that it gives a president “power to assassinate a rival.”
President Joe Biden also commented on the ruling, calling it “a dangerous new precedent.”
While many on the far-left agreed with Sotomayor, others, such as former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, said the ruling does not provide immunity for a president who orders “the assassination of a political rival,” noting that “would unquestionably be an unofficial act.”
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