"I'm trying to understand what the disincentive is from turning the Oval Office into the seat of criminal activity in this country," Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said.

Former President Donald Trump’s attorney on Thursday argued that a president could order the assassination of his political rival and stage a military coup without being prosecuted for it.

Jack Sauer, Trump’s lawyer, made the “absolute immunity” argument in a Supreme Court hearing in the Department of Justice election interference case against the former president. Trump’s team has repeatedly claimed that the ex-president can’t be prosecuted for “official acts” he did while in office.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Sauer, “If the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person and he orders the military to assassinate him, is that within his official acts to which he has immunity?”

“That could well be an official act,” Sauer responded.

Sotomayor seemed taken aback at that line of reasoning.

…

“How about if the president orders the military to stage a coup?” Kagan asked.

“I think it would depend on the circumstances,” Sauer said.

  • @radixEnglish
    16•8 months ago

    There is no constitutional reason it can’t be amended, but there is a statutory reason Biden can’t act unilaterally on that: the Judiciary Act of 1869 limits the SCOTUS to nine members.

    Congress would have to let him.