President Joe Biden, who recently stepped aside as expected Democratic nominee for the year but is staying on as president, is endorsing ambitions for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to effectively reverse a widely panned recent ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s the ruling that said presidents hold some immunity, meaning protection from prosecution, for certain actions taken in office.
The conservative judges applied those protections to actions within a president’s legal authority and, generally, official acts, though there were remaining questions of how determining where an action fell would actually be undertaken. The protections were spurred by an appeal from Donald Trump challenging a criminal case accusing him of conspiring to undercut the 2020 presidential election outcome while himself still in office as president. The high court’s decision spurred further proceedings on whether certain action alleged of Trump fell within the protections.
“President Biden shares the Founders’ belief that the President’s power is limited—not absolute—and must ultimately reside with the people,” said a Monday press release from the White House. “He is calling for a constitutional amendment that makes clear no President is above the law or immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office. This No One Is Above the Law Amendment will state that the Constitution does not confer any immunity from federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction, or sentencing by virtue of previously serving as President.”
Formally advancing a proposed Constitutional amendment towards potential ratification would require — on the path Democrats are seemingly taking currently — two-thirds of each house of Congress in favor. The Republican majority currently controlling the House thus makes the ambition currently a tall order, but it’s clear that Democratic interests are focused with blunting the impact of that ruling.
