Senate leader mulls bill to strip Trump of powers granted by Supreme Court

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Monday insisted the Democratic Party “will not let the Supreme Court’s decision” regarding Donald Trump’s immunity from prosecution “stand unaddressed,” as NBC News reports the New York senator is eyeing a legislative response to the Court’s controversial opinion.

SCOTUS, in a 6-3 ruling last Monday, decided Trump is “immune from prosecution for official acts taken while in office, but not for private conduct,” the Washington Post reports.

According to the Hill, Schumer said “he and other Senate Democrats will work to advance legislation to strip” Trump of that immunity.

The Hill reports:

Schumer, invoking Congress’s powers to regulate the courts, said Democrats are working on legislation to classify Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election as “unofficial acts” so they do not merit immunity from criminal prosecution under the high court’s recent 6-3 decision.

Speaking on the Senate floor, the Senate majority leader slammed the Court for “incorrectly [declaring] that all future presidents are entitled to a breathtaking level of immunity” and “effectively [placing] a crown on Trump’s head."

“I will work with my colleagues on legislation classifying Trump’s election subversion acts as unofficial acts not subject to immunity,” Schumer said.

Such long-shot legislation would undoubtedly be met with resistance in the highly divided Congress. As NBC News notes, “there would undoubtedly be hurdles to advancing the legislation in the Senate, where Democrats hold a razor-thin majority in a chamber that requires 60 votes for passage.”

Still, Schumer says such a bill is required to “rein in the abuse of our federal judiciary.”