For Immediate Release
Contact: David Reinbold, dreinbold@americanhumanist.org
(July 1, 2024, Washington, D.C.) — Today, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. United States that Presidents and former Presidents have absolute immunity in the course of their core constitutional powers.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts said 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. At least with respect to the President’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute.”
Even more troubling, the Supreme Court issued little guidance in its opinion in determining what makes something categorically a “core constitutional power.” With regards to the ongoing litigation regarding former President Trump at the center of this case, issues about which of his actions are afforded immunity are left for the lower courts to decide.
This is a monumental blow to humanist and secular values, the rule of law, and hundreds of years of established democracy. In our representative government, no single person should ever have absolute legal immunity; in today’s decision, the Supreme Court has failed the American people and fundamentally altered our democracy.
Today marks a watershed moment for the US. From this day forward, there will be a stark divide in history: the America where no one was above the law, and the America where it became possible for some to rise above it. As Justice Jackson wrote in her dissent, “Presidents alone are now free to commit crimes when they are on the job, while all other Americans must follow the law in all aspects of their lives, whether personal or professional.”
During the past several weeks, the Supreme Court has handed down numerous decisions that are devastating to humanist values and the American people. From upending decades of legal precedent and enfeebling the Executive Branch with Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, to ensuring that the legal and medical landscape for abortion nationwide remains a tapestry of confusion in Moyle v. U.S., to weakening the protections around official government proceedings and enabling insurrectionists in Fischer v. U.S.; this Supreme Court has shown its blatant disregard for our democratic institutions and the American people.
“Today, the Christian nationalist majority on the Supreme Court attacked the rule of law, checks and balances, and the fundamentals of our constitutional republic by granting partial immunity to former President Trump from prosecution for his key role in the violent January 6th insurrection,” said Lily Bolourian, Legal and Policy Director for the American Humanist Association. “The precedent that the Supreme Court has established today has brought us to a new, dangerous chapter in the United States: complete lawlessness from the most powerful with no consequences, while the most marginalized among us remain subject to mass incarceration for minor offenses or no offenses at all. The Supreme Court has greenlit corruption and criminal behavior never before permissible in the executive branch and even given permission for extremists and seditionists to take up arms and violently overthrow our government.”
With the Supreme Court gone rogue and unchecked for years and another disastrous term of opinions, it is imperative for Congress to act expeditiously and decisively to pass court reform measures, including the Judiciary Act and the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act, among other urgent initiatives.
“We cannot waste another second under the thumb of these rogue Justices: The House and the Senate must stop delaying, rise to the importance of the moment, and immediately pass the Judiciary Act to counteract the extremist justices the Trump administration rammed through,” said Nicole Carr, Interim Executive Director for the American Humanist Association. “We call on the Biden administration to immediately publicly support the Judiciary Act; the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act; the Judicial Ethics Enforcement Act; and the High Court Gift Ban Act to restore balance to the Court.”
To borrow language from Justice Sotomayor’s powerful dissent about today’s decision in Trump v. United States: With fear for our democracy, we dissent.
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The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.