Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer defended his efforts to restrict the Supreme Court in response to its presidential immunity ruling in a Washington Post op-ed Thursday.
“America’s Founding Fathers, deeply fearful of tyranny, would be appalled by the unchecked power the Supreme Court handed to our executive branch in the Donald Trump immunity decision. They are probably turning in their graves over this decision,” Schumer wrote. “However, in their infinite wisdom 235 years ago, the Founders provided a remedy to prevent any branch of government from becoming too powerful.”
The New York senator defended his “No Kings Act” measure to “overturn the court’s unprecedented ruling and restore that long-standing American principle — that a president must be subject to the laws of the land.”
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More specifically, the measure would declare that there is no legal immunity for former presidents or vice presidents who violate the law while in office or in an official capacity. However, it would also take away the Supreme Court’s authority to address appeals regarding the bill’s constitutionality.
Further, it would allow the government to charge former presidents or vice presidents with crimes in any district court across the country.
Schumer also attacked critics of the measure for suggesting it “mirrors tactics Republicans have threatened to use in the past,” arguing they “miss the bigger picture.”
“This is not a theoretical discussion in a civics lecture. MAGA Republicans work every day to erode our democracy and have found the courts to be their most effective tool,” Schumer wrote in the op-ed.
He added, “The hard right has proved it is hellbent on using the courts to undermine democracy. Democrats would be foolish to allow this overreach to continue because we are afraid Republicans would do the same.”
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The measure is co-sponsored by 36 other Democratic senators who claim the “plain language” of Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution gives them the authority to “correct excessive overreach by the Supreme Court.”
“The Constitution never envisioned the Supreme Court as infallible, untouchable high priests. Instead, the Founders empowered the elected branches to correct overreach by passing laws overseeing the courts,” Schumer wrote.
He emphasized, “Congress is an equal branch, the one closest to the people with its own constitutional prerogative to shape the structure of our democracy and act when necessary. With a conservative Supreme Court working to undermine our democracy and our electoral system, if it’s not necessary to act now, then when?”
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The majority leader’s legislation faces near-certain failure in the Senate this session, as Republicans are unlikely to join Democrats to help the measure pass the 60-vote threshold necessary to beat a filibuster. Its odds would be even worse in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where it likely wouldn’t make it to the chamber floor.
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