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Immunity Ruling ‘Put the Ex-President Above the Law,’ Rep. Bennie Thompson Says, Condemning U.S. Supreme Court

The Republican-appointed U.S. Supreme Court majority’s ruling granting presidents immunity from prosecution for official acts drew a sharp rebuke from U.S. House Rep. Bennie Thompson on Monday.

The Mississippi Democrat led the U.S. House January 6th Select Committee, which investigated Trump’s efforts to stay in office despite losing the 2020 election and his role in his supporters’ Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. The nation’s high court agreed with Trump yesterday that he should be immune from criminal charges in certain instances where he was acting as president.

“As someone who led Congress’s investigation into the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, let me be very clear: today, a lawless and corrupt Supreme Court extreme conservative majority rewrote the Constitution for their master, Donald Trump, and dangerously undermined the rule of law in this country,” Thompson said in a statement on Monday. 

“By granting a twice-impeached felon absolute immunity for many of his acts that sought to undermine the legitimate results of the 2020 Presidential election, such as weaponizing the Department of Justice to do his campaign’s bidding, these extreme Justices clearly put the ex-President above the law.”

‘The President Is Now a King Above the Law’

After a federal grand jury indicted Donald Trump on felony charges in the Jan. 6 case, his attorneys argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that presidents should have “immunity” for official acts. The U.S. Supreme Court majority agreed in a 6-3 ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority opinion.

“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,” the chief justice wrote in the majority opinion. “And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”

FILE – Supporters of Donald Trump participate in a rally in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments Tuesday, April 16, 2024, over the charge of obstruction of

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