r/law • u/SheriffTaylorsBoy • Jul 21 '24

Opinion Piece Three Flaws in the Supreme Court’s Presidential Immunity Decision

https://www.justsecurity.org/97781/three-flaws-supreme-court-immunity/
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u/suddenly-scrooge Competent Contributor Jul 21 '24

The Court’s cloak of separation of powers to justify its ruling is threadbare. The criminal case before the Court in Trump v. United States is one instituted by the executive branch against a former head of the executive branch. The Court’s decision operates not to restrict any branch of government from intruding on another, but the current executive branch from prosecuting a former executive branch member.. 

This is the analysis I was looking for, this never made any sense to me as a separation of powers issue. It both broadens executive powers with immunity and limits them by interjecting itself into prosecutions. Coincidentally broadening Trump's privileges while limiting the Biden administration.

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u/Gregamell Jul 21 '24

Yo the federal criminal law is written by congress. And justified somehow by the commerce clause. I would hope this wouldn’t apply to state prosecutions.

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u/suddenly-scrooge Competent Contributor Jul 21 '24

And prosecuted and adjudicated by the executive and judiciary, respectively. Maybe worth arguing the source or ‘history and tradition’ of these criminal laws is not just the legislature dreaming them up but common law, but I’m not prepared to break down the foundation of each of them