Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will introduce a bill on Thursday to effectively reverse the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity, according to ABC News.
Schumer’s “No Kings Act” bill has over two dozen Democratic co-sponsors and comes as a direct response to the Supreme Court’s Trump v. United States ruling, which found that presidents have immunity from prosecution for official acts taken in office, according to ABC News. The bill would clarify that it is Congress’ responsibility to determine who federal criminal law applies to, not the Supreme Court, according NBC News.
President Joe Biden revealed multiple proposals on Monday to reshape the Supreme Court, including a constitutional amendment to make it clear “no President is above the law or immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office.” He also proposed placing term limits on Supreme Court justices and called on Congress to pass a code of conduct for the justices.
Schumer said in a statement to NBC News that the Supreme Court’s ruling “threw out centuries of precedent and anointed Trump and subsequent presidents as kings above the law.”
“Given the dangerous and consequential implications of the Court’s ruling, legislation would be the fastest and most efficient method to correcting the grave precedent the Trump ruling presented,” Schumer said, according to NBC News. “With this glaring and partisan overreach, Congress has an obligation — and a constitutional authority — to act as a check and balance to the judicial branch.”
“We conclude that under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power requires that a former President have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the July 1 decision.
In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor claimed the majority’s decision meant “the President is now a king above the law.”
Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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