Biden says Supreme Court's immunity ruling 'undermines the rule of law'
President Biden called the Supreme Court's decision to grant his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, broad immunity from prosecution "a dangerous precedent" that "undermines the rule of law."
“Today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what the president can do,” Biden said. “The power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law, even including the Supreme Court of the United States. The only limits will be self-imposed by the president alone.”
Biden's remarks from the White House came hours after the court's 6-3 decision along ideological lines that a former president has absolutely immunity for his core constitutional powers– and is entitled to a presumption of immunity for his official acts, but lack immunity for unofficial acts. The court sent the case back to the trial judge to determine which, if any of Trump actions, were part of his official duties and thus were protected from prosecution.
Biden said the court's decision puts "virtually no limits on what a president can do," and all but ensures Trump won't be tried for his role in the effort to undermine the transfer of power.
"Now the American people will have to do what the court should have been willing to do, but will not...render a judgment about Donald Trump's behavior," Biden said.
Biden, who is under pressure from his fellow Democrats to withdraw from his race after his performance in last week's presidential debate, took no questions. He spoke clearly and calmly during the statement.
But since that debate, he's held several events in the hope to assuage his supporters that he is up to the job. Last Friday, a day after the debate, Biden held a rally in Raleigh, N.C., where he attempted to persuade supporters that he could still do the job. And, more crucially, he spent the weekend doing damage control, telling donors and others that he understood their concern.
“I didn’t have a great night,” he told supporters gathered at the home of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Saturday night. “But I’m going to be fighting harder and going to need you with me to get it done.”
Transcript
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Tonight, President Biden spoke to reporters at the White House. He criticized today's Supreme Court decision on presidential power, a ruling former President Donald Trump called a win. The divided court said former presidents are broadly immune from prosecution for things they did while in office. And Biden's words were being closely watched tonight for another reason. This is his first time back in Washington since his disastrous debate last week. White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram joins us from the White House Hi there.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Hey there.
SHAPIRO: Tell us what Biden said tonight.
SHIVARAM: Yeah, so Biden spoke about - for about five minutes tonight. And he talked about today's Supreme Court decision, which, as you just mentioned, is a big win for Trump. Biden started off by saying that there is a need to know the limits of the office of the presidency and that no one is above the law, but now that's changed.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: For all practical purposes, today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what the president can do. This is a fundamentally new principle, and it's a dangerous precedent because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law, even including the Supreme Court of the United States.
SHIVARAM: And Ari, Biden went on to reference Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent, where she said the ruling from the court today makes the president a, quote, "king above law." And Biden said he agreed with Sotomayor.
SHAPIRO: So there's substance and symbolism of a speech like that, and it's hard not to listen without noticing the difference between the way he sounds there and the way he sounded at the debate.
SHIVARAM: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: Tell us about the context.
SHIVARAM: Well, the context is that today is the first day President Biden is back in Washington since his debate performance last week which, as we said, didn't really go well for Biden. The debate was really hyped up by the Biden campaign. It was supposed to be this moment to put the contrast between Biden and Trump on the big screen. But Biden really floundered. He wasn't clear about his own points, trying to outline what he's done in his first term, and he also didn't really counter Trump very well either. Biden spent the weekend at Camp David with his family. And, you know, this has all been a pretty high pressure moment for his campaign because there are a lot of people in the Democratic Party wondering if Biden should still be the nominee.
SHAPIRO: Did he take any questions from reporters tonight?
SHIVARAM: He didn't take questions from reporters, despite us shouting out a few, asking whether he would drop out of the race. But I will say, you know, there wasn't any of the raspiness or that hesitation we saw from Biden on Thursday. He spoke slowly and calmly tonight. And this was truly a stick-to-the-script situation. But, you know, Ari, after the debate last week, there was no teleprompter - right? - at the debate. Biden had to respond in the moment. And after that, there's been some pressure on Biden to show that he can respond to questions in the moment and respond in the next debate. And we didn't really see that here tonight.
You know, this is a president who has not held a lot of traditional press conferences with the media. He does far fewer interviews with reporters compared to past presidents. So it's honestly not that common to see Biden speak without prepared remarks. But what we did hear from Biden today is something that his campaign has been doing a lot, especially since the debate, and that was to focus on what they describe as the danger that Trump poses to democracy should he win in November. Here's Biden talking about it tonight in the context of the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
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BIDEN: The American people must decide whether Donald Trump's assault on our democracy on January 6 makes him unfit for public office in the highest office in the land. The American people must decide if Trump's embrace of violence to preserve his power is acceptable.
SHAPIRO: Do you think we'll see more of him out in public talking about this, taking questions in light of the scrutiny right now?
SHIVARAM: Yeah, I mean, he's kind of spoken about it already. He did some campaigning in North Carolina and New York after the debate, and over the weekend, he admitted that the debate wasn't his best performance. He said he's going to work harder in the campaign, but he hasn't taken questions from reporters. So that remains to be seen. Otherwise, it's business as usual for Biden this week. He's getting a briefing on extreme weather, making remarks, and he's headed to another campaign reception in McLean, Va., just outside D.C. tomorrow.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Deepa Shivaram at the White House, thanks.
SHIVARAM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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