Connecticut Democrats Decry Supreme Court Ruling On Presidential Immunityw

by Jamil Ragland

In its last ruling of the term Monday, the US Supreme Court declared that former presidents have broad immunity against prosecution, dealing a significant blow to attempts to prosecute former President Donald Trump for his attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election and sharply dividing the court along ideological lines.
“Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the 6-3 majority ruling.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissent for the three liberal justices, calling into question the extent to which former presidents will be immune from prosecution.

“The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune,” she wrote.
The ruling stems from the case United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, where the former president was indicted on felony charges for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in which he was defeated by current president Joe Biden. The court’s ruling sends the case back to the trial court, where Special Counsel Jack Smith will be left to untangle what Trump can still be prosecuted for. The ruling makes it almost impossible that Trump will be tried before this year’s presidential election.
Connecticut’s elected officials reacted with a mixture of outrage and alarm at the ruling.

“The Supreme Court has put lawbreaking presidents like Donald Trump above the law,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, said in a statement. “This cravenly political decision to shield President Trump grants him a legal armor that no other citizen enjoys. The net effect is not only to delay Trump’s criminal trial, but bestow an unwise and unjust broad shield for him and other presidents who flout and flagrantly abuse their office. This is a license for authoritarianism,” 
Attorney General William Tong celebrated that the court did not give Trump full immunity for all acts, but shared concerns about the potential for abuse by presidents going forward.
“Today, the Supreme Court rejected Donald Trump’s absurd claim of absolute immunity from all criminal prosecution. It affirmed that presidents can be prosecuted for crimes committed in their private capacity – like Trump’s fake slates of electors. But the Court gave Trump – and all future presidents – far too much unrestrained power for so-called official acts. Even the president – especially the president – must be accountable for abusing the office’s enormous power,” he said.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-CT, said that the ruling means that Trump will not be held accountable for his role in the January 6 insurrection that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Today, the Supreme Court gave Donald Trump the political gift of a lifetime – total protection for the insurrection he led on January 6th,” Murphy said. “This stunning refusal by the Court to hold Donald Trump accountable for his actions not only gives future presidents a free pass to knowingly commit crimes, it also transforms the office of the President into a King-like ruler. This should be simple. No American citizen is above the law, not even a former president.”
Republican members of the Connecticut legislature did not release any statements by email regarding the ruling and there were no statements about the topic published on the Connecticut Republican Party’s website as of early Tuesday.

Connecticut Senate President Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, agreed with Murphy’s characterization, saying that the ruling  “opened the door to our President serving as the equivalent of a medieval king ruling by ‘divine right’ and enjoying ‘sovereign immunity,’ repudiating our democratic, anti-monarchical traditions dating back to the implementation of our Constitution and the inauguration of our new government in 1789.”
US Rep. Rosa DeLauro noted the timing of the ruling, coming the same week that the nation celebrates its independence from Great Britain.
“On the week our country will celebrate 248 years of independence from a king, the activist conservative majority has upended centuries of precedent,” DeLauro said. “We are a nation of laws, and all are obligated to follow them for our government to function. This decision by the Republican-appointed Justices who want nothing more than to dismantle the Constitution, endangers our democracy and the rule of law. We must work to bring these far-right judges into compliance with the Constitution.”

State Sen. Gary Winfield, a New Haven Democrat and US Navy veteran who co-chairs the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, shared his concerns about the future of the country.
“Our democracy is in trouble,” Winfield said. “That’s not election-time rhetoric. It’s a fact that becomes more clear with every decision handed down by this radical court. This latest ruling should serve as a clarion call for everyone who believes in accountability. Vote as if this nation is in danger. Because it is.”