DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
Supreme Court’s Trump immunity ruling poses risk for democracy, experts say

The court’s decision raised fears that a future president will be able to act with impunity because official acts of the president have been deemed off limits from prosecution.

By Patrick Marley
July 1, 2024 at 8:37 p.m. EDT

In its immunity decision Monday, the Supreme Court emphasized the long-cherished ideal that no one in America is above the law, not even the president.

The court’s dissenters and a chorus of critics said the majority had undercut that notion, elevating the president to a king who can easily avoid prosecution. They warned of future presidents unbound from the rule of law who could freely engage in criminal activity. And they pointed to the prospect of a second term for Donald Trump — the man whose indictment on charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election prompted the Supreme Court to weigh in — as a moment when their worst fears could be realized.

“If a future president sitting in the Oval Office were to want to commit crimes, up to and including subverting an election or remaining in power against the will of the American people, this opinion, in my mind, could provide a road map for that,” said David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.

Becker, a former voting rights attorney with the Justice Department, said he believed the prosecution of Trump for his past behavior can advance in some form. But holding Trump and other presidents accountable will be far more difficult after Monday’s ruling, he said.

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By Patrick Marley
Patrick Marley writes about voting issues in the Upper Midwest for The Washington Post. He previously covered the Wisconsin Capitol for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Twitter https://x.com/patrickdmarley