Trump could tell the military to kill a political opponent under the Supreme Court's groundbreaking presidential immunity ruling, an attorney has told Newsweek.
Greg Germain, a business attorney and law professor at Syracuse University in New York, said that he concurred with Supreme Court judge, Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote a scathing dissent in which she warned that the Trump immunity ruling would allow a president to kill off political rivals.
Justices issued a 6-3 ruling on Monday that Trump has complete immunity for any actions he took within his constitutionally defined duties as president.
"What about the hypothetical where a president asks the military to kill a political opponent? Sotomayor says the majority would say the president is immune," Germain said. "I think she's right if the communication was between the president and a member of his executive branch, like the military. It's a very troubling opinion."
Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election and has received a boost in the polls after his debate against Joe Biden on June 27.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Friday.
The Supreme Court returned the Department of Justice's election interference case against former President Donald Trump to a trial court in Washington, D.C., to figure out how to determine what constitutes an official presidential act.
The ruling means that special counsel Jack Smith cannot proceed with core allegations in the 2020 election interference case—or must at least defend their use in future proceedings before the trial judge.
The case focuses on Trump's actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, such as creating false slates of pro-Trump electors in states he had lost to President Joe Biden. Trump has denied the charges, claiming presidential immunity.
Monday's ruling also makes it all but certain that Trump will not face trial in Washington ahead of the presidential election.
Liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented.
"Today's decision to grant former presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the presidency," Sotomayor wrote. "It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of government, that no man is above the law."
In her written opinion, Sotomayor offered examples of presidential corruption that will now be legal.
"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."
"Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends. Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be."
"That is the majority's message today. Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done," she said.
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
