Chuck Schumer Tears Into SCOTUS Over 'Awful Immunity Provision For Presidents'

2 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tore into the Supreme Court's immunity ruling, and public perception of the Justices.

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Transcript

00:00Now on the Supreme Court and the immunity, their awful immunity provision

00:07for presidents including Trump. All of us in school were taught that there are no

00:14kings in America, no kings in America. But one month ago the MAGA Supreme Court

00:21effectively placed a crown over Donald Trump's head. They ruled that the

00:29president of the United States is in essence above the law. That the president

00:35is immune in sweeping ways from accountability for quote official acts.

00:40One month ago I said I'd work with my colleagues on legislation to reverse the

00:46damage of the courts bewildering ruling on immunity. Today I'm pleased to

00:51announce Senate Democrats are taking the next step. Today along with 33 of my

00:57Democratic colleagues I'm introducing the No Kings Act. This legislation is as

01:05simple as the name it bears. It reaffirms that presidents do not have immunity

01:10from violations of criminal law and removes the Supreme Court's jurisdiction

01:15to hear appeals related to the presidential immunity which the

01:20Constitution explicitly empowers Congress to do. The MAGA Supreme Court's

01:27decision on presidential immunity was the very antithesis of the kind of

01:31accountability our framers envisioned. It just goes to show you what a morass the

01:38Supreme Court is in right now. They're in a mess. They're in an ethical morass and

01:42they're in a substantive morass. Ethically the MAGA Supreme Court is

01:47suffering a huge crisis of confidence with the American people because

01:52justices accept lavish gifts, vacations, cars from hard-right wealthy people who

02:01are then paying different groups and lawyers to lobby for what they want and

02:07then the justices turn around and ram

02:12through scores of hard-right decisions. The two happen sometimes all too

02:17close to one another in time. Substantively the MAGA Court is taking

02:23the rights away from Americans at every opportunity, like a woman's

02:27right to choose and others, siding with the big special interests against the

02:31average person. And again the MAGA Supreme Court is undermining our

02:35Constitution and throwing out centuries of precedent by anointing Donald Trump

02:41and future presidents as kings above the law. And make no mistake about it, we have

02:47a very strong argument that Congress by statute can undo what the Supreme Court

02:52does, that it does not require a constitutional amendment. The bottom line

02:57is this, no democracy can hope to survive if it cannot ensure accountability. And

03:03if the Supreme Court can no longer be trusted to serve as its own check on

03:07ethics or on following precedent and helping the American people, Congress

03:14must use all its tools to restore trust and accountability to the highest court

03:19in the land.

Chuck Schumer Tears Into SCOTUS Over 'Awful Immunity Provision For Presidents'

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