President Joe Biden delivered a brief but impassioned address on Monday evening, condemning the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity in the case of Trump v. United States. The president spoke for just under five minutes before walking away without taking any questions from the press.
Biden described the ruling as a dangerous precedent, stating, “This is a fundamentally new principle, and it’s a dangerous precedent, because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law, even including the Supreme Court of the United States.”
The Supreme Court ruled that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office, but not for unofficial acts. The 6-3 decision sent the matter back to a lower court, without deciding on whether Trump is immune from prosecution regarding actions related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
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In his address, Biden urged the American people to consider whether Donald Trump’s actions on January 6th, 2021, render him unfit for public office. “The American people must decide if Trump’s embrace of violence to preserve his power is acceptable,” Biden said.
He emphasized the importance of reflecting on the principles of the nation’s first president, George Washington, who believed in limited power, not absolute authority.
Biden wrapped up his speech without addressing reporters’ questions, including inquiries about whether he plans to drop out of the presidential race following his recent debate performance against Trump.
Former President Trump, on the other hand, celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision. He posted on Truth Social, calling it a “big win for our constitution and democracy.” Trump criticized what he referred to as politically motivated prosecutions against him and predicted that many of these cases would “disappear, or wither into obscurity.”
Trump was charged in August 2023 by Special Counsel Jack Smith with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, asserting that the prosecutions are efforts to prevent him from returning to the White House.
