Sotomayor criticizes presidential immunity case as putting the high courts legitimacy on the line
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized the Court’s 2024 presidential immunity case in her first public appearance since the start of the second Trump term, saying it places the Court’s legitimacy on the line. Sotomayor made the comments during an appearance in Louisville, Kentucky, during which she was asked a range of questions, including the public’s perception of the high court, according to the Associated Press.Sotomayor’s comments are her first in public since President Donald Trump took office last month. “If we as a court go so much further ahead of people, our legitimacy is going to be questioned,” Sotomayor said during the Louisville event.
“I think the immunity case is one of those situations.I don’t think that Americans have accepted that anyone should be above the law in America.
Our equality as people was the foundation of our society and of our Constitution.”In a 6-3 decision in July 2024, the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v.United States that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office, but not for unofficial acts.The case stemmed from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s federal election interference case in which he charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the U.S.; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.Sotomayor notably wrote the dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, saying the decision “makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law.”“Never in the history of our Republic has a President had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law,” the dissent continued.“Moving forward, however, all former Presidents will be cloaked in such immunity.
If the occupant of that...