Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) is slated to introduce a bill on Thursday to effectively invalidate the Supreme Court’s ruling granting presidents immunity from wrongdoings done in an “official” context that experts have warned is ripe for abuse.
The bill, entitled the No Kings Act, would clarify that presidents are not immune from prosecution for criminal acts taken in office. It also states that Congress, not the Supreme Court, has jurisdiction over the issue of who federal criminal law applies to, and prevents the Supreme Court from ruling on any legal appeals of the bill that may be filed.
The bill is a direct response to the far right court’s July ruling that seemed tailor-made to allow Donald Trump to avoid being prosecuted for the various counts of misconduct he is facing in the courts, like his role in inciting a coup on January 6, 2021.
In a statement, Schumer said passing a bill to combat the ruling is “the fastest and most efficient method to correcting the grave precedent.” The bill has 28 Democratic cosponsors in the Senate.
“In a dangerous and devastating ruling, the MAGA Supreme Court has once again subverted the will of the American people, and the very idea of democracy itself,” Schumer said.
The Supreme Court’s ruling gave presidents an extreme and unprecedented amount of power; in her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that a president could, for instance, order the assassination of a political opponent and face no consequences. Legal experts said the ruling was essentially a “license for dictatorship” for those willing to abuse power like Trump.
The ruling is potentially also an indication that Chief Justice John Roberts is fully leaning into agreeing with the court’s far right majority and their dark money boosters and setting aside concerns from its three liberal justices — a “turning point” for him, according to a recent CNN report detailing how the immunity decision was made.
According to Supreme Court insiders cited by CNN, Roberts didn’t even attempt to negotiate with the liberal justices in deciding the extremist immunity decision. This is a break from the historical practice of the Supreme Court to rule unanimously when making major decisions on presidential power, as CNN noted.
The No Kings Act is unlikely to surpass the 60-vote threshold set by the filibuster, and stands no chance of passing the Republican-dominated House. But the introduction of the bill, along with other actions taken in recent weeks by Democrats, is reflective of Democrats’ willingness to rein in the Supreme Court as it faces a legitimacy crisis of its own making.
The bill’s introduction comes after President Joe Biden proposed a set of three reforms for the Supreme Court in response to the court’s string of far right rulings in recent years. He proposed justices be subject to 18-year term limits and binding code of conduct for the court. He also urged Congress to pass a constitutional amendment that would overturn the presidential immunity ruling.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re shoring up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy