President Biden criticized the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday to grant former President Donald Trump immunity from prosecution for “official acts” during his presidency.
Biden said that voters “deserve” a faster trial for his likely election rival.
Biden, 81, spoke for about four minutes from the Cross Hall, reading from teleprompters before leaving while reporters asked questions about his performance in Thursday’s CNN debate against Trump, 78.
“Mr. President, will you drop out of the race?” one reporter shouted as Biden walked away from the podium.
Another journalist asked, “What makes you so confident you should be the president?”
Biden’s speech was seen as an attempt to show his ability to lead, especially as fellow Democrats were urging him to step aside.
“The man who sent that mob to the US Capitol is facing potential criminal conviction for what happened that day. The American people deserve to know the answer in the courts before the upcoming election,” Biden said. He emphasized that the public should know what happened on January 6 before voting again.
“Now, because of today’s decision, that is highly unlikely. It’s a terrible disservice to the people of this nation. So now the American people have to do what the court should have done but will not. The American people have to judge Donald Trump’s behavior. The American people must decide whether Trump’s actions on January 6 make him unfit for public office,” Biden added.
Trump celebrated the court’s decision as a “big win” for democracy.
Biden said the new ruling means “there are virtually no limits on what a president can do.”
“This is a fundamentally new and dangerous principle because it means the president’s power will no longer be constrained by the law,” Biden stated.
Biden agreed with a dissent by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who mentioned the possibility of future presidents ordering political assassinations without consequence.
“I agree with Justice Sotomayor’s dissent. She said, ‘In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law. With fear for our democracy, I dissent’,” Biden quoted.
Sotomayor also wrote: “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
The majority ruling did not dismiss the criminal case against Trump for allegedly breaking the law while challenging the 2020 election results. It sent the case back to lower courts to determine what counts as official acts in connection to the charges.
“Like everyone else, the President can be prosecuted in his unofficial capacity,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. “But unlike anyone else, the President is a branch of government, and the Constitution gives him sweeping powers and duties. Ensuring the President can exercise those powers forcefully does not place him above the law; it preserves the Constitution’s structure.”
Trump is the first former president in US history to face trial, despite calls for many of his predecessors and Biden to face charges for various alleged crimes.
Trump, who leads Biden in most national and swing-state polls, was convicted on May 30 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in Manhattan to cover up 2016 “hush money” payments. Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11 in that case.
Trump also faces pending federal charges in South Florida for allegedly mishandling classified records after leaving office in 2021, and pending state charges in Georgia for alleged election-related crimes, though it’s unclear when or if these cases will go to trial.
Earlier on Monday, a Biden campaign official compared the high court’s ruling to giving Trump “the keys to a dictatorship.”
In its 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court did not rule on whether Trump’s alleged efforts to interfere in the 2020 election count as an “official act,” leaving that question for lower courts to decide.
Both a US district court and the DC Circuit Court of Appeals had previously rejected Trump’s absolute immunity arguments.
“BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” Trump posted on Truth Social after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Biden spent most of Monday with his family at Camp David, considering his future after the debate.
A CBS News poll found that 45% of Democrats want Biden to step aside, and the New York Times editorial board on Friday called for Biden to let his party pick another candidate.