SC ruling: A dangerous precedent: Biden

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden has warned that the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on presidential immunity sets a “dangerous precedent” that former President Donald Trump would exploit if elected in November.

The Supreme Court ruled earlier in the day that President Trump — and all presidents — enjoy “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for “official acts” performed in office, but that they can be prosecuted for “unofficial acts.”

Donald Trump is facing criminal charges over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to President Biden. However, that trial has been put on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court reviews his immunity claims.

President Biden said in a statement that today’s ruling virtually guarantees that there are no limits to what a president can do and that it is a fundamentally new principle. He called it a dangerous precedent.

Monday’s ruling, which is largely ideological in nature, will further delay the proceedings in Donald Trump’s case, as lower courts still have to consider the numerous questions raised by the Supreme Court ruling.

Biden said the people of the United States must decide whether to entrust the presidency to Trump again. Trump was quick to savour what he called a “great victory”.

Chief Justice John Roberts said that a president is “not above the law,” but does have “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for official actions he takes while in office. Roberts argued that the president therefore may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers.

Earlier, both a district court and an appellate court had rejected Donald Trump’s immunity claims in a landmark case with far-reaching implications for the executive branch.

The former president is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstructing an official proceeding when a mob of his supporters tried to shut down a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, held to certify Biden’s victory.

Trump is also accused of conspiring to disenfranchise Americans and have their votes counted.

The three justices dissented from Monday’s ruling, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying she did so “out of fear for our democracy.”

Trump praised the decision in posts on Truth Social, calling it a “great victory for our Constitution and democracy.”

Donald Trump was convicted in New York in May of falsifying corporate records to cover up a scandal in the final stages of the 2016 campaign, making him the first former president ever convicted of a crime.

If Donald Trump is re-elected, once he is sworn in as US president in January 2025, he can order the federal lawsuits against him to be closed.