Like cadaverous specters rising out from the tomb of King George III, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority took a major step toward restoring something akin to absolute monarchy to a country that declared its independence from the English king in 1776.
The high court ruling came in review of the federal case brought against former President Donald Trump for his actions encouraging the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, and it shocked both conservative and liberal legal experts. The justices declared that the President of the United States has total immunity from legal consequences for official acts that fall within their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority,” thereby putting the president above the law, unlike any other citizen.
In her sharp dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “Never in the history of our Republic has a President had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law. Moving forward, however, all former Presidents will be cloaked in such immunity. If the occupant of that office misuses official power for personal gain, the criminal law that the rest of us must abide will not provide a backstop.”
Sotomayor said the “utterly indefensible” ruling makes the president “a king above the law.”
Fans of Trump, of course, are applauding the court’s Republican-appointed majority for backing their man, but, at some point, it may dawn on them that this new immunity from prosecution applies to President Joe Biden and all future Democratic presidents. Will they be so enthused to live under a king that is not one of them?
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