Legal scholar shuts down ‘dangerous’ rhetoric on Supreme Court immunity ruling

Constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley criticized President Biden, Democrats, and the media for allegedly misrepresenting the Supreme Court’s ruling on ex-presidential immunity from prosecution during a radio interview.

Turley highlighted the importance of checks and balances in the U.S. Constitution, emphasizing that while a president may have protection against criminal charges for official acts, there are mechanisms in place to hold them accountable, such as impeachment.

Biden’s response to the ruling was described as misleading by Turley, who noted concerns about overheated rhetoric exacerbating a crisis of faith in the system.

“What you saw last night was the addiction of rage. You know, that people won’t admit it, but they like it. And so the outpouring of it, how rage quickly overtook reason, is always sort of unsettling to watch. You know, the argument that this is we’re going to have death squads and people are just going to be whacked left and right,” Turley said.

“And what really sort of brought it home was the president’s address from the White House. What the president said last night was not true, and he was misleading the public about that opinion. It was not just unfair to the Supreme Court, it was unfair to the public that they were told something that simply is not true.”

“The amazing thing is that, you know, we have the most successful Constitution, the longest-serving Constitution in the world that’s here. It’s still here for a reason. We have survived periods that would reduce most countries into a fine pumice. And the reason is that we have a system designed to survive. And what these people ignore is that there are checks and balances on a president. He can be impeached. He can be removed. There are federal courts that can enjoin him. There are all of these protections,” he said.

“Just because the president can’t be criminally charged doesn’t mean that a president can’t be stopped. And so all of this effort to suggest that the president now is just basically a government onto itself, ignores the entirety of the Constitution, but it also reflects this crisis of faith that we have today, and it’s being fueled by members of Congress and political leaders who are saying, ‘Oh, we now have a tyranny. We now have a dictatorship. We’re going to have death squads.’ You have Whoopi Goldberg saying that gays and reporters will just be disappeared. You have many people saying this will be our last election.”

“All of that overheated rhetoric obviously is quite popular, but it’s also dangerous because there’s some people that believe it, they actually believe that that’s true, and if they do, they believe that anything they do then is justified,” he added.

Biden, in his address, expressed his disagreement with the ruling, stating it sets a dangerous precedent where presidential power may go unchecked, prompting the public to consider Trump’s actions and accountability in light of the January 6th events.

“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,” Biden said.

“The American people must decide if Trump’s embrace of violence to preserve his power is acceptable. Perhaps most importantly, the American people must decide if they want to entrust the presidency to Donald Trump once again. Now knowing, he’ll be even more emboldened to do whatever he pleases, whenever he wants to do it,” Biden said.