Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Trump lawyer John Sauer had a stunning exchange over whether presidential immunity covers the assassination of political rivals during Thursday’s Supreme Court hearing.
Sauer had previously argued that under certain circumstances, a president could order Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival and not face prosecution, at an appeal hearing on former President Donald Trump’s claim of presidential immunity.
This topic came up again during the Supreme Court hearing:
SOTOMAYOR: Now I think. What? And then your, answer, below, I’m going to give you a chance to say if you stay by it, if the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person and he orders the military or order someone to assassinate him, is that within his official acts that for which he can get immunity?
Sauer: It would depend on the hypothetical. What we can see that could well be an official act.
SOTOMAYOR: He could. And why? …