Democrats implied Monday that former President Donald Trump could pursue his political opponents, legally, if he returns to the White House, following the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity in Trump v. U.S.
If Trump ever becomes president, immunity wouldn’t matter.
What does matter – American people should start to understand the authoritarian rule which this decision stems.
If a president has seal team 6 kill his political opponents & mark them as official acts .. it’s over!
— Deborah Fortkiewicz (@dfortkiewicz) July 1, 2024
Democratic Party activist and pundit Van Jones warned that the decision granted presidents a “license to thug”:
Van Jones: “I think politically it’s bad. It makes the Supreme Court look very partisan… They look like they’re wearing red jerseys or even MAGA hats… It’s almost like a license to thug.”https://t.co/h11A2q5noa
— Mr Producer (@RichSementa) July 1, 2024
As Breitbart News reported, the Court held 6-3 that a president enjoys absolute immunity for official acts, but not for unofficial acts. While it is up to the courts to adjudicate the difference, the Supreme Court said that a president has the right to pre-trial challenges regarding whether any particular acts fall into the “official” or “unofficial” category.
Democrats warned that the “MAGA SCOTUS” had given presidents license to eliminate their political opponents. They appeared to be following the lead of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote in dissent for the Court’s liberals:
The Court effectively creates a law-free zone around the President, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the Founding. This new official-acts immunity now “lies about like a loaded weapon” for any President that wishes to place his own interests, his own political survival, or his own financial gain, above the interests of the Nation. … The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. 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. Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends. Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be. That is the majority’s message today. Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. 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.
Sotomayor, in turn, appeared to be echoing a line from the Biden-Harris campaign:
Biden-Harris Campaign Co-Chair Landrieu: This election is a choice about what kind of America you want. Trump continues to talk about revenge. He thinks he should have immunity to send SEAL Team Six after political opponents. Trump will be worse than he was the first time pic.twitter.com/mbrYRvcQp9
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) February 28, 2024
Some Democrats were enthusiastic about what they took to be presidential immunity, wishing openly for the Biden administration to use the military to eliminate Trump.
Libs are in full meltdown mode, some openly calling for the assassination of President Trump.
Totally normal, stable people who should control the education of your kids, your businesses, the border, and two foreign wars. https://t.co/9bpqrEDThR
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 1, 2024
Conservatives responded with mockery, referring to reports of President Joe Biden’s infirmity:
Joe Biden can authorize Seal Team Six to assassinate his political opponent but only between 10am and 4pm
— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) July 1, 2024
In arguing that Trump — or any other president — could pursue his opponents legally, Democrats appeared to concede that Biden had been doing so illegally, at least according to the Supreme Court, which also ruled last week that prosecutors had abused a federal statute to pursue some participants in the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021.
The case is Trump v. United States, No. 23-939 in the Supreme Court of the United States.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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