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Supreme Court Presidential Immunity Ruling Ignites Firestorm

Some social media users have issued calls to assassinate Trump and Supreme Court Justices

Published: July 1, 2024
  |   By Adrian Norman
Supreme Court Presidential Immunity Ruling Ignites Firestorm

In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that U.S. presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for official acts carried out during their time in office.


This ruling significantly reduces the likelihood of former President Donald Trump being convicted in a criminal case brought by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith. Last year, Smith charged Trump with four felony counts related to an alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.


The decision, announced earlier today, has already sparked a firestorm of reactions.


Trump’s critics took to social media almost immediately, expressing their outrage and vehemently criticizing the Court's ruling. Some extreme reactions even included calls for violence, highlighting the deep divisions surrounding the case.


“Today, the Supreme Court has gone rogue with its decision, violating the foundational American principle that no one is above the law,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wrote in a post on X.


“The former president’s claim of total presidential immunity is an insult to the vision of our founders, who declared independence from a King,” she added. “The Supreme Court placed itself on trial with this decision – and its credibility has been further diminished in the eyes of all those who believe in the rule of law.”



Rick Wilson, co-founder of the anti-Trump organization The Lincoln Project, expressed his anger in a series of posts:


“Last time I checked, stealing classified documents is not part of the President's official ambit,” he said.



“I'd like to thank the Supreme Court for granting Joe Biden godlike official powers," Wilson wrote. "I think his first step should be to declare all Trump golf courses as protected Federal wildlife preserves and seize them by eminent domain...it's an official act, so it's cool, right?”



"The Red Court just put America into a dark new territory,” he added.



A social media account with the name Jack Eason said that President Joe Biden should test the limits of the Court’s definition of an “official act” and have Trump assassinated.


He wrote: “Biden should have Trump killed and see what happens next. Might set 'dangerous precedents' or whatever, but since conservatives have had to scramble to assert the president as king, legally he's in the clear. He could also bomb SCOTUS. Nothing of value there.”


Other accounts suggested the Biden administration take "official" action to kill Trump in a drone strike, kill Supreme Court justices in a drone strike, or to have Supreme Court justices executed for treason.


Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer excoriated the Court, accusing justices of reaching their decision by rank partisanship.


“This disgraceful decision by the MAGA SCOTUS — which is comprised of 3 justices appointed by Trump himself — enables the former President to weaken our democracy by breaking the law,” he wrote. “It undermines SCOTUS's credibility and suggests political influence trumps all in our courts today.”



Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy programs at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, is calling the immunity ruling an “open invitation” to abuse power.


“This is much worse than I expected, than I was even contemplating as an outcome,” she told the Associated Press (AP), adding that the decision offers “virtual king-like immunity for the president.”

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