Joe Biden called the Supreme Court’s decision granting former President Donald Trump partial immunity from criminal prosecution a “dangerous precedent.”
The current US president said the ruling undermined “the rule of law” and was a “terrible disservice” to Americans.
Earlier, Trump hailed the court’s decision as a “great victory” for democracy.
The justices ruled Monday that a president enjoys immunity for “official acts” but not for “unofficial acts” and sent the case back to a lower court judge.
The ruling will further delay the criminal case against Trump for allegedly trying to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election that handed Mr. Biden victory.
The judge must now determine what actions Mr Trump took as president, a process that could take months. A trial is unlikely to begin before the November election.
This is a huge boost for Donald Trump – a “big win,” as he declared on his social media platform Truth Social.
The Supreme Court has ruled that all former presidents enjoy partial immunity from criminal prosecution – full immunity applies to acts performed in the president’s official capacity, but “unofficial acts,” in a private capacity, are not covered.
A trial judge will now have to decide which aspects of the president’s behavior are relevant to the criminal prosecution of him for trying to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.
Trump is accused of inciting the Capitol riot with his tweets and remarks on January 6, 2021. But the court ruled that his speech and social media activity that day were all official acts.
All three liberal justices on the Supreme Court dissented from the decision. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, “The president is now a king above the law.”
A White House spokesperson said President Biden believes “no one is above the law.”
Democratic Rep. Judy Chu said the consequences of the court’s decision would be far-reaching.
“This is a victory for Donald Trump and a real blow to democracy in America. The implications of this decision are enormous. If a president says, in any capacity, that he wants to do something that we consider to be inappropriate and criminal, he could be immune from the actions that he would take,” she said.
The court’s 6-3 decision – a historic decision taken on a parochial line – does not drop the charges against the former president, but it will significantly delay any trial – if it ever takes place – until well after the November 5 election.
The ruling will also apply to other ongoing criminal charges against Trump related to top-secret documents found at his Florida home and to the Georgia case in which he is accused of conspiring to overturn his narrow election loss in the state.
