Supreme Court's Immunity Decision: Biden's Unexpected Win

Presidential immunity ruling is not only a win for Trump, but all past and future presidents, including Joe Biden.

Earlier this month, President Trump and the country won a significant victory at the Supreme Court on the question of presidential immunity for official acts. The Court held that presidents are absolutely immune for official acts within their core powers; presidents are at least presumptively immune for other official acts; presidents are not immune for unofficial acts; motives of official acts are irrelevant; and evidence concerning official acts, such as testimony or private records of a president or his advisers, is inadmissible in a president’s trial for alleged unofficial criminal acts.

Democrats lost their collective mind. For instance, the three dissenting justices—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—claimed that the ruling allowed a president to commit “treasonous acts” and bribery with impunity. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) indicated that she will attempt to impeach the justices in the majority opinion.

President Biden also railed against the justices’ decision. In a brief statement, Biden claimed that the decision “almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what a president can do.” Biden went on to lambast the decision as a “dangerous precedent” and added: “I know I will respect the limits of the presidential power, as I have for three and a half years.” 

While the immunity ruling is a huge win for Trump in the short run, it will benefit Biden and every former president in the long run. Biden and other leftists have expressed fears that, should Trump retake the presidency, he would use the Justice Department to exact revenge on his political enemies. This ruling provides security for Biden from such retribution with respect to his official actions as President.

For example, under Biden, the border is now a sieve. Over ten million illegal immigrants poured in under Biden’s presidency. Biden also lawlessly paroled millions of illegal immigrants, allowing their mass-release into the country after processing by the Border Patrol. Absent official acts immunity, the Trump 47 Justice Department could easily conclude that Biden’s policies illegally encouraged these migrants to come into the country, causing harm to American citizens.

The potential Biden prosecutions don’t stop at the border. On August 26, 2021, the Biden Administration was withdrawing the last of our troops from Afghanistan. Assisted by the administration’s incompetence, suicide bombers massacred thirteen of our troops at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The Trump 47 Justice Department could have pursued an involuntary manslaughter case against Biden, saying Biden’s hasty withdrawal, an official act, put our troops in harm’s way.

Fortunately for Biden, he does not have to worry about such charges from a creative prosecutor in the Trump 47 Justice Department. The president’s handling of immigration policy and troop withdrawals fall squarely within his official powers that, under the Supreme Court’s decision, grant him immunity. Biden enjoys bashing the Court's decision now, but he will not be President come January 2025. Maybe then he will likely appreciate the gift the justices just handed him and every future president.

Mike Davis is the Founder and President of the Article III Project.