WASHINGTON, DC – As the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, ‘When the President Does It, that Means It’s Not Illegal’: The Supreme Court’s Unprecedented Immunity Decision, begins, Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC) Vice President Praveen Fernandes issued the following reaction:

CAC commends Chair Durbin and the other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for examining the harms of the conservative majority opinion in Trump v. United States. The majority’s holding fabricates an immunity from criminal prosecution for former presidents that has no basis in the text and history of the Constitution, and finds no support in the Court’s own precedent.  Justice Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion—which cites the amicus brief that CAC filed on behalf of an ideologically diverse group of leading constitutional law scholars—describes the many problems with the majority’s holding, along with the dangers it poses for democracy and the rule of law.

The harms of the majority opinion in Trump v. United States extend beyond the hobbling of the prosecution of Donald Trump for January 6^th-related offenses. The opinion also undermines accountability for all future individuals who occupy our nation’s most powerful office. As we explain in written testimony that CAC submitted to the Judiciary Committee for this hearing, the majority opinion undermines the system of accountability put in place by the Framers of the Constitution, who “envisioned a president answerable to the governed, not a king who is above the law.”

Failed by a conservative Supreme Court majority that refused to engage seriously with the Constitution’s text and history, other stakeholders in our democracy—including Congress—must carefully consider how to mitigate the dangers posed by the majority’s opinion and must reaffirm the principle that no one is above the law. The Senate Judiciary Committee undertakes that important work today.

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Resources:

CAC’s Testimony: https://www.theusconstitution.org/testimony/cacs-testimony-to-the-united-states-senate-judiciary-committee-on-the-supreme-court-immunity-decision/

Sign-On Letter: 75 Organizations Call to Overturn Supreme Court Presidential Immunity Ruling: https://www.theusconstitution.org/news/sign-on-letter-75-organizations-call-to-overturn-supreme-court-presidential-immunity-ruling/

Case page in Trump v. United States: https://www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/trump-v-united-states/

Release in Trump v. United States: https://www.theusconstitution.org/news/release-high-courts-decision-on-presidential-immunity-is-too-little-and-too-late-to-ensure-the-framers-vision-of-presidential-accountability/

Newsweek: The Founding Fathers Didn’t Think Donald Trump Should Get Immunity Either: https://www.newsweek.com/founding-fathers-didnt-think-donald-trump-should-get-immunity-either-opinion-1867948