SCOTUS_10.1.2020

Audrey Bowler / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

Project 2025 partners celebrate Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity

Written by Jack Wheatley, Jacina Hollins-Borges & Sophie Lawton

Published

Project 2025 partners are taking a victory lap after the Supreme Court’s July 1 decision in Trump v. United States, which ruled that “former President Donald Trump is entitled to immunity from federal prosecution for official actions he took while in office, a landmark decision at the height of an election season that further delays the start of his criminal trial in Washington, D.C.” 

Project 2025 is a comprehensive transition plan to guide a potential second Trump administration with policy proposals and staffing recommendations led by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation, which joined other members of the project’s advisory board in celebrating the ruling on presidential immunity as a win for Trump and a defeat for Democrats. Last week, Project 2025 partners also praised the Supreme Court decision overturning Chevron deference in a ruling that will restrict federal agencies' regulatory abilities and make it easier for corporations to challenge environmental protections, climate action, and rules that protect workers or regulate drugs and financial practices, among other issues..

    • On former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts marked the decision as “vital,” and claimed, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 7/2/24]
    • Heritage senior legal fellow Sarah Parshall Perry posted that the Trump ruling is “the one the nation waited for. Never in American history has the high court weighed in on the scope of criminal immunity for presidents over their conduct in office. Today's decision was historic.” She added that “the presumption of immunity for certain official acts applies to all occupants of the Oval Office. Politicizing the Justice system against a president sets a dangerous precedent, and SCOTUS put some much-needed guardrails in place today.” [Twitter/X, 4/1/24]
    • The American Center for Law and Justice posted, “BREAKING: In a major ruling, the Supreme Court has agreed with our amicus brief that Presidents are entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts in office.” [Twitter/X, 7/1/24]
    • Former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, president of America First Legal, wrote that the decision is “another setback for the Democrat Party’s illegal and unconstitutional crusade to outlaw dissent, jail the opposition leader, impose authoritarian rule, replace democracy with the deep state and liberty with leftwing oligarchy.” [Twitter/X, 7/1/24]
    • The Center for Renewing America posted a video of senior fellow Mark Paoletta reacting to the decision on Newsmax, saying, “It’s a great day for President Trump… it’s an even better day for the U.S. Constitution." [Twitter/X, 7/2/24]
    • The Center for Renewing America’s official statement said the ruling also “confirms that immunity” for senior fellow Jeff Clark, who was indicted alongside Trump for efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. CRA wrote: “We have vigorously insisted from the very beginning that Mr. Clark is entitled to immunity from prosecution and from bar discipline. The Supreme Court’s decision today confirms that immunity in resounding and unmistakable terms. Now the Fulton County District Attorney and the D.C. Bar Disciplinary Process must immediately dismiss all charges against Clark and bring their wrongful prosecutions of him to an end.” [PBS NewsHour, 8/8/23; Twitter/X, 7/1/24]
    • Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots wrote, “Today’s SCOTUS ruling is another win for former President Trump, and a big defeat for the Democrats who have been weaponizing the government against Trump to interfere in this year’s election.” She thanked the Supreme Court “for recognizing the importance of presidential immunity” and added, “This is why your vote is so important.” [Twitter/X, 7/1/24]
    • Family Research Council’s Washington Watch podcast hosted Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) and Liberty University’s Phill Kline to celebrate the immunity decision. Burlison said, “The court, I felt like, made a very common-sense ruling that the president has immunity when performing the duties of his office. It just so happens that some of those duties include making sure that there’s no voter fraud that occurred in the previous election.” Kline said the Supreme Court concluded “that the president, in the exercise of his constitutional and statutory responsibilities, needs to be immune from zealous or overreaching oversight by the other branches of government, including that of Congress and even the courts, as well as a prosecutor who might take a law and try to weaponize it against the president to try to deter certain behavior.” [Family Research Council, Washington Watch, 7/1/24, 7/1/24]