Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that the “MAGA wing of the Supreme Court” issued the majority decision granting presidential immunity for official acts in office, while supporting Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s blunt dissent in the case.
“I agree with Justice Sotomayor on the immunity ruling of the MAGA wing of the Supreme Court,” said Clinton, the 2016 Democratic candidate who lost to Trump, in a post on the social platform X.
Clinton continued, quoting Sotomayor: “Afraid for our democracy, I disagree.”
“It will be up to the American people, this November, to hold Donald Trump accountable,” Clinton added.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled Monday that key presidential powers are immune from criminal prosecution, a victory for former President Trump as he returns his federal election interference case to a lower court for determine whether the actions he took in his efforts to overturn the election in 2020 deserve protection.
The decision was decided along ideological lines and failed to grant Trump the full immunity he sought in the case. Still, it helps Trump by making it less likely that the case will go to trial before the 2024 presidential election in November.
The case now returns to district court, where proceedings were halted while the high court weighed Trump’s immunity claims. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the matter, must now weigh in on the issue for a second time, as well as Trump’s other pending efforts to dismiss the case.
Sotomayor issued a forceful 30-page dissent on Monday, joined by fellow liberal justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. She read her dissent extensively in court, a rarity reserved for when a judge wants to emphasize sharp disagreements in a case.
“Today’s decision to grant criminal immunity to former presidents reshapes the institution of the Presidency,” she wrote. “It makes a mockery of the principle, fundamental to our Constitution and system of government, that no man is above the law.”
“The relationship between the president and the people he serves has changed irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law,” his dissent read.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) also criticized the Supreme Court for its “disgraceful” decision, which he said “allows the former president to weaken our democracy by breaking the law.”
“This ruling undermines the credibility of the Supreme Court and suggests that political influence trumps all else in our courts today,” Schumer said.
Ralph Nader — a four-time White House candidate whose 2000 candidacy was criticized as a “spoiler” in the race — attacked the decision but blamed Clinton for running a “clumsy campaign” that allowed Trump to become president.
“A dictatorial, unelected majority on the Supreme Court has just turned America into a dictatorial president above the law. Thank you, Hillary Clinton, whose clumsy campaign allowed the dictatorial Trump to become president and led to a dictatorial right-wing majority on the Supreme Court,” he wrote in an X post.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
