Democrats Try to Undo Immunity Ruling

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced legislation Thursday affirming that presidents do not have immunity for criminal actions, an attempt to reverse the Supreme Court's landmark decision last month. Schumer's No Kings Act would declare that presidents are not immune from criminal law and clarify that Congress, not the Supreme Court, determines to whom federal criminal law is applied, the AP reports. The court's Republican-appointed majority decided July 1 that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken within their official duties—a decision that threw into doubt the Justice Department's case against Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Schumer said Congress has an obligation and the constitutional authority to check the Supreme Court on its decision. "Given the dangerous and consequential implications of the court's ruling, legislation would be the fastest and most efficient method to correcting the grave precedent the Trump ruling presented," he said. The Senate bill, which has more than two dozen Democratic cosponsors, comes after President Biden called on lawmakers earlier this week to ratify a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity, along with establishing term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the court's nine justices. Democratic Rep. Joseph Morelle has proposed a constitutional amendment in the House.

Republicans in Congress rallied around Trump in celebrating the immunity decision as a victory. Without GOP support, per the AP, Schumer's bill has little chance of passing. A constitutional amendment would be even more difficult to pass. Such a resolution takes a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate and ratification by three-fourths of the states. Still, Democrats see the proposals as a warning to the court and an effort that will rally their voting base ahead of the presidential election. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against Trump in November, said this week the reforms are needed because "there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court."

(More presidential immunity stories.)