U.S. President Biden delivers remarks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Trump's bid for immunity from federal prosecution for 2020 election subversion, in Washington

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity set a "dangerous precedent" that could turn presidents into kings and called on the American people to "dissent" by rejecting Donald Trump in November's election.

In clear, measured remarks from the White House, Biden said the court decision meant Trump was highly unlikely to go on trial before the Nov. 5 election for his role in seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and warned it could turn U.S. presidents into kings.

The court found Trump cannot be prosecuted for any actions that were within his constitutional powers as president, but can be for private acts, in a landmark ruling recognizing for the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution.

"This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each, each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law. Not even the president of the United States," Biden said, reading from a teleprompter.

He said the court's decision meant there were now virtually no limits on what a president could do.

"It's a dangerous precedent, because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law," Biden said. "The only limits will be self-imposed by the president alone."

Biden, 81, was making his first set of remarks at the White House since his shaky debate against Trump last week led to calls for him to step aside as the Democratic Party's standard-bearer for the election.

After he stumbled over his words on the Atlanta debate stage, his remarks and comportment are being scrutinized for signs that he is up to the job of running for re-election and of governing the country for four more years.

Biden said he sided with liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote she feared for U.S. democracy in her dissent in the 6-3 decision.

"Now the American people will have to do what the court should have been willing to do, but will not. The American people will render judgment on Donald Trump's tenure," Biden said, alluding to the November presidential election.

"I concur with Justice Sotomayor's dissent today," he added. "So should the American people dissent. I dissent. May God bless you all. May God help preserve our democracy," Biden said in closing.

Asked on Fox News about Biden's remarks, House Speaker Mike Johnson called them "despicable" and "dangerous" and accused the president of "trying to undermine the Supreme Court."

Biden is running for re-election against Trump and has been sharply critical of his rival's actions related to the Jan. 6, 2021, raid on the U.S. Capitol by Trump's supporters, who believed Trump's false claims that he had won the 2020 election.

"Now the man who sent that mob to the U.S. Capitol is facing potential criminal conviction for what happened that day. The American people deserve to have an answer in the courts before the upcoming election," Biden said, referring to Trump being charged for his role in spurring the riot.

Biden said the public has a right to know the results of that prosecution before the election in November. "Now, because of today's decision, that is highly, highly unlikely. It's a terrible disservice to the people in this nation."

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‘No kings in America’: Biden slams U.S. Supreme Court ruling granting Trump immunity

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House on July 1, 2024, following the Supreme Court’s ruling on charges against former President Donald Trump that he sought to subvert the 2020 election. The highest court ruled 6-3 that presidents have some level of immunity from prosecution when operating within their “constitutional authority,” but do not have absolute immunity. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision granting the presumption of criminal immunity for official actions taken by a president fundamentally altered U.S. democracy, President Joe Biden said from the White House Monday evening.

Speaking for less than five minutes, Biden said the 6-3 decision contradicted the spirit of the country’s founding — set to be celebrated nationwide this week on the Fourth of July — that no one is above the law.

“This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America,” Biden said. “Each of us is equal before the law. No one — no one — is above the law, not even the president of the United States.”

The immunity decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts for the court’s conservative majority, undermined that principle, Biden said.

Biden added that the decision would almost certainly mean a jury would not decide the criminal case accusing former President Donald Trump of conspiring to illegally overturn his 2020 loss before November’s election, which Biden called a “disservice to the American people.”

Roberts opinion

The ruling tasked a federal trial court with determining which actions then-President Trump took seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election were conducted as “official” acts of the president. Those actions are entitled to “the presumption of immunity,” Roberts wrote.

The ruling protected the power of an office that itself makes up an entire branch of government, Roberts said, and was consistent with the constitutional framers’ view that the president has broad powers and responsibilities.

“Accounting for that reality — and ensuring that the President may exercise those powers forcefully, as the Framers anticipated he would — does not place him above the law,” Roberts wrote. “It preserves the basic structure of the Constitution.”

But Biden called the decision “a dangerous precedent” that would give presidents nearly unrestrained power.

This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each of us is equal before the law. No one — no one — is above the law, not even the president of the United States.

– President Joe Biden

“The power of the president will no longer be constrained by the law, even by the Supreme Court of the United States,” he said. “The only limits will be self-imposed by the president alone.”

Biden invoked the example of George Washington, who he said restrained the power of the presidency, and pledged he would continue to “respect the limits of the presidential powers.”

But, he said, the ruling empowered future presidents, possibly including Trump, to ignore the law.

Jan. 6 attack

Biden said Trump was responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that disrupted the certification of Biden’s defeat of Trump in the 2020 election. Trump’s efforts to undermine the election results, culminating in the Jan. 6 attack, are the subject of the federal indictment the former president challenged by asserting presidential immunity.

“Four years ago, my predecessor sent a violent mob to the U.S. Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power,” Biden said. “We all saw with our own eyes. We saw what happened that day … I think it’s fair to say it’s one of the darkest days in U.S. history. Now, the man who sent that mob to the U.S. Capitol is facing potential criminal conviction.”

Biden, whose reelection campaign was still reeling Monday from a debate performance against Trump last week described even by Democrats as poor, called on voters to “do what the court should have been willing to do but would not,” and reject Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, at the ballot box.

The president endorsed Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s forceful dissent in the case, quoting her phrase that the majority opinion fueled “fear for our democracy” and urging voters, too, to dissent.

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Biden: Trump immunity is ‘dangerous’ for America

Joe Biden has warned that the Supreme Court ruling that Donald Trump cannot be prosecuted for official actions sets a “dangerous precedent”.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Mr Biden said the decision by the conservative justices on the court means the power of the US presidency will no longer be constrained by the law.

“This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America ... no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” Mr Biden said, speaking hours after one of his campaign officials said the ruling makes it easier for Mr Trump “to pursue a path to dictatorship”.

The court on Monday delivered a major boost to Donald Trump who has sought to claim presidential immunity over his actions related to the Jan 6 riots.

“This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each, each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law. Not even the president of the United States,” Mr Biden said.

With the decision on Monday, he said, “that fundamentally changed”.

Mr Biden, speaking in his first set of remarks at the White House since his shaky debate against Mr Trump last week, has been sharply critical of his election rival’s actions related to the Jan 6 riots.

“Now the man who sent that mob to the US Capitol is facing potential criminal conviction for what happened that day. The American people deserve to have an answer in the courts before the upcoming election,” Mr Biden said, referring to Mr Trump being on trial for his role in spurring the riot.

Mr Biden said the public has a right to know what the results of that prosecution before the election in November.

“Now, because of today’s decision, that is highly, highly unlikely. It’s a terrible disservice to the people in this nation,” he said.

The president’s campaign, who have frequently sought to paint Trump as a threat to democracy, said it would allow presidents to kill off their political rivals with impunity.

One of the Supreme Court justices who dissented against the ruling said the decision could allow US presidents to deploy Navy seals to assassinate rivals.

Sonia Sotomayor argued that the decision would allow the president to use their office for “evil ends”.

She wrote: “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organises a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”

“Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends.

“Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be. That is the majority’s message today.”

Trump’s lawyers have previously claimed that a president was immune from criminal prosecution if they used a team of Navy seals to kill their political enemies - unless they were first impeached by Congress.

The Court did not explicitly address the claim, but took issue with the argument that a president could not be prosecuted without being impeached.

John Roberts, the Chief Justice and author of the Court’s opinion, noted that a president who resigned from office or otherwise evaded impeachment would “never be held accountable for his criminal acts.”

“Impeachment is a political process by which Congress can remove a president,” he said.

“Transforming that political process into a necessary step in the enforcement of criminal law finds little support in the text of the constitution or the structure of our government.”

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Trump seeks to set aside New York hush money verdict hours after Supreme Court ruling

 Donald Trump’s lawyers on Monday asked the New York judge who presided over his hush money trial to set aside his conviction and delay his sentencing, scheduled for next week.

The letter to Judge Juan M. Merchan cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling earlier Monday and asked the judge to delay Trump’s sentencing while he weighs the high court’s decision and how it could influence the New York case, according to the letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The lawyers argue that the Supreme Court’s decision confirmed a position the defense raised earlier in the case that prosecutors should have been precluded from introducing some evidence they said constituted official presidential acts, according to the letter.

In prior court filings, Trump contended he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. His lawyers did not raise that as a defense in the hush money case, but they argued that some evidence — including Trump’s social media posts about former lawyer Michael Cohen — comes from his time as president and should have been excluded from the trial because of immunity protections.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined comment Monday night.

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, extending the delay in the Washington criminal case against Trump on charges he plotted to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss.

Trump was convicted in New York of 34 counts of falsifying business records, arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment just before the 2016 presidential election. He is scheduled to be sentenced in the hush money case on July 11.

Merchan instituted a policy in the run-up to the trial requiring both sides to send him a one-page letter summarizing their arguments before making longer court filings. He said he did that to better manage the docket, so he was not inundated with voluminous paperwork.

In denying Trump’s bid to move the trial from New York state court to federal court last year, a federal judge found that the allegations at the center of the case pertained to Trump’s personal life, and do not “reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties.”

“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President — a cover-up of an embarrassing event,” U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein wrote in the ruling.

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