While they can still be charged for their private conduct,Biden said the decision set a dangerous precedent for the country,which was “founded on the principle that there are no kings in America”.
Meanwhile,the three liberal justices of the court –Sonia Sotomayor,Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan – all dissented,warning that the ruling could give Trump the power to assassinate rivals and order military coups in the future.
The ruling has also further delayed Trump’s trial for trying to overthrow the 2020 election. The Supreme Court sent the matter back to the US District Court to determine which of Trump’s actions were done in an official or unofficial capacity.
“The president of the United States is the most powerful person in the country,and possibly the world,” wrote Sotomayor on behalf of the three dissenting justices. “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. Organises a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune,immune,immune.
“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.”
Biden,who has been under pressure to stand down since his poor performance in the first presidential debate last week,branded the move as yet another attack by the court’s conservative majority on longstanding democratic norms.