Free Speech For People strongly endorses Rep. Joe Morelle’s newly introduced constitutional amendment that will ensure that no officer of the United States—including the president— is above the law.

The amendment prevents U.S. officers from asserting immunity on the grounds that the alleged criminal act was within the constitutional authority of their office or related to their official duties. It also confirms that a President has no constitutional authority to pardon himself or herself.

It will reverse the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. United States, which manufactured an unprecedented and dangerous concept of presidential immunity. The Supreme Court’s decision upends hundreds of years of precedent and betrays a defining feature of our constitutional democracy: that all people are equal in the eyes of the law and that no one, not even the president, is above it. It leaves our country vulnerable to corrupt, lawless officials who abuse the power of their office and may now assert that power as grounds to evade prosecution. And it is joined by two Justices who should have been recused from hearing the case due to clear conflicts of interest.

The amendment should not be necessary. But because it is, it is imperative that Congress, the states, and the people of this country act swiftly to pass this amendment, affirm the principles of equality before the law that are a bedrock of our democracy, and close the door to authoritarianism that the Supreme Court has opened.

Free Speech For People applauds Rep. Morelle and his co-sponsors for introducing the amendment.

Read more here about the democracy amendments, a series of amendments to reclaim our democracy that Free Speech For People supports.

Read more here about Free Speech For People’s demand for Supreme Court accountability and reform to restore legitimacy to the Court.