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Notes -
Trump v. United States, the presidential immunity opinion, dropped this morning. In broad strokes it goes like this:
1. For those acts that are pursuant to the President's "conclusive and preclusive" authority there is absolute immunity.
2. For those acts which are official acts by the President but not covered by (1) there is a presumption of immunity that can only be overcome by showing the prosecution would pose no "dangers of intrusion on the authority and functions of the Executive Branch."
3. For those acts which are unofficial there is no immunity.
4. Those acts for which the President has immunity cannot be used as evidence to demonstrate any element of a crime for which the President would not have immunity.
I think it's just incredible that the six justices in the majority looked at the Navy-SEALs-assassinate-a-rival hypothetical and went "yep, sounds right, no liability." Roberts' majority opinion even mentions the President's orders to the armed forces as one of the things that falls under (1).
I think the way is clear. Biden orders Trump, the six justices in the majority, and let's say the next 2-3 top Republican candidates whacked (just for safety). He probably gets impeached and removed but can't go to jail (thanks SCOTUS!) Harris takes over as President and I think it's unlikely she would also get impeached. Dems don't want to hand the presidency to Mike Johnson. That gives Harris plenty of time to stack the court. Republican convention in disarray due to the deaths of their prominent candidates. Biden obviously out, he'd be ineligible anyway if impeached and removed. Dems probably dump Harris to create a clean break with Biden admin, clearing the way for Whitmer/Newsom/Pritzker/whoever.
The above is fan fiction, of course.
1 - 3 seem relatively reasonable (though 2 is more deferential than I think is necessary). However, 4 is the big "What the hell?!" to me. It strikes me as a poison pill meant to make the whole thing nearly impossible to prove.
Say you think a President took a bribe for an ambassador. They could theoretically be prosecuted for that. However, any communication he might have had is pretty much immune from evidence-gathering. The Supreme Court also said you cannot put him on the stand and ask him under oath if he hired the guy because of the bribe.
I'm legitimately curious at how this is supposed to work, outside of said President being so stupid as to broadcast his crime on prime-time TV.
Does it even matter if he broadcasts his crime on prime-time TV? He could be there in his official capacity and thus the broadcast can’t be used as evidence for any wrongdoing.
The broadcast isn't the act though--it displays the act. If the act itself were to broadcast something, then maybe, but I'd still say that the act in that case would be the action of broadcasting, not the contents of the broadcast.
If he's being broadcast for a presidential speech and turns around and murders someone, then his act is the presidential speech, not the broadcast. People can still use the broadcast as evidence.
Ah you’re right. I was thinking along the lines of him admitting he’s done a crime on the broadcast, not that he literally commit the crime on the broadcast.
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