Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf
Page Number: 77.0

10 

TRUMP v. UNITED STATES 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

ident Reagan in the Iran/contra matter was reviewed by In-
dependent Counsel against the applicable statutes.  It was 
concluded  that  [his]  conduct  fell  well  short  of  criminality
which could be successfully prosecuted”).

Indeed, Trump’s own lawyers during his second impeach-
ment  trial  assured  Senators  that  declining  to  impeach
Trump for his conduct related to January 6 would not leave
him “in any way above the law.”  2 Proceedings of the U. S.
Senate in the Impeachment Trial of Donald John Trump, S. 
Doc. 117–2, p. 144 (2021).  They insisted that a former Pres-
ident “is like any other citizen and can be tried in a court of
law.”  Ibid.; see also 1 id., S. Doc. 117–3, at 339 (Trump’s
impeachment  counsel  stating  that  “no  former  officeholder
is  immune”  from  the  judicial  process  “for  investigation,
prosecution,  and  punishment”);  id.,  at  322–323  (Trump’s
impeachment counsel stating: “If my colleagues on this side 
of the Chamber actually think that President Trump com-
mitted a criminal offense . . . [a]fter he is out of office, you 
go  and  arrest  him”).    Now  that  Trump  is  facing  criminal
charges for those acts, though, the tune has changed.  Being
treated “like any other citizen” no longer seems so appeal-
ing.

In sum, the majority today endorses an expansive vision
of Presidential immunity that was never recognized by the 
Founders, any sitting President, the Executive Branch, or
even President Trump’s lawyers, until now.  Settled under-
standings of the Constitution are of little use to the majority
in this case, and so it ignores them. 

IV 
A 
Setting aside this evidence, the majority announces that
former  Presidents  are  “absolute[ly],”  or  “at  least  . . .  pre-
sumptive[ly],” immune from criminal prosecution for all of 
their official acts.  Ante, at 14 (emphasis omitted).  The ma-
jority  purports  to  keep  us  in  suspense  as  to  whether  this