‘The President is now a king above the law’: Sotomayor dissent in Trump immunity case accuses majority of ‘judicial activism’ in ‘twisted’ opinion that ‘has no basis in law’

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks during a panel discussion at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in Washington.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks during a panel discussion at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The U.S. Supreme Court went on summer vacation on Monday, just three days before the 4th of July, with a major nod toward imbuing the U.S. presidency with the trappings of divine-like, imperial power.

In a molten lead dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor accuses the majority of generally diminishing small-R “republican” values by creating a regime where “the President is now a king above the law.” And, on the specific facts of the case where former President Donald Trump was gifted broad grants of immunity, the dissent accuses her conservative colleagues of “judicial activism, not judicial restraint.”

“With fear for our democracy, I dissent,” Sotomayor signs off — eschewing the norm of “respectfully” disagreeing with the outcome. A secondary dissent by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson also avoids the pretense of respecting the decision in Trump v. United States.

What comes before in Sotomayor’s complaint should leave no one guessing about the level of discord the result has engendered.

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