Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said she plans to file articles of impeachment against unnamed Supreme Court justices following the Court’s ruling on presidential immunity on Monday.
The only justice impeached in American history was Associate Justice Samuel Chase in 1805. The Senate acquitted him.
“The Supreme Court has become consumed by a corruption crisis beyond its control,” Ocasio-Cortez posted on X.
“Today’s ruling represents an assault on American democracy. It is up to Congress to defend our nation from this authoritarian capture. I intend on filing articles of impeachment upon our return,” she said, without naming her target.
The Court’s ruling held in a six-to-three decision that presidents are covered by limited immunity from criminal prosecutions for actions taken in office.
Moving forward, the “case will now be remanded and will likely result in the dismissal of some or all of the charges facing the former president in federal court in Washington, DC, relating to the Capitol riot of January 6,” Breitbart News’s Joel Pollak wrote.
Former President Donald Trump, whom the ruling impacted, celebrated it as a “big win” for democracy. The ruling was the latest good news for Trump and his reelection campaign.
Democrats and the Biden campaign roundly condemned the ruling. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) ripped it as a “disgraceful decision by the MAGA SCOTUS,” while Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) accused the Court of going “rogue.”
“Today’s ruling doesn’t change the facts, so let’s be very clear about what happened on January 6: Donald Trump snapped after he lost the 2020 election and encouraged a mob to overthrow the results of a free and fair election,” a senior Biden campaign official said in a statement.
This case poses a question of lasting significance: When may a former President be prosecuted for official acts taken during his Presidency? Our Nation has never before needed an answer. But in addressing that question today, unlike the political branches and the public at large, we cannot afford to fixate exclusively, or even primarily, on present exigencies. In a case like this one, focusing on “transient results” may have profound consequences for the separation of powers and for the future of our Republic.
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The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution. And the system of separated powers designed by the Framers has always demanded an energetic, independent Executive.
The President therefore may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. That immunity applies equally to all occupants of the Oval Office, regardless of politics, policy, or party.
The case is Trump v. United States, No. 23-939 in the Supreme Court of the United States.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.