[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 112 (Monday, July 8, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4215-S4216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           U.S. Supreme Court

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, American democracy stands today at a 
perilous crossroads. One week ago, the six conservative Justices on the 
Supreme Court undermined the most basic premise in our constitutional 
order, that no one--no one--is above the law.
  They incorrectly declared that former President Donald Trump enjoys 
broad immunity from criminal prosecution for actions he took while in 
office. They incorrectly declared that all future Presidents are 
entitled to a breathtaking level of immunity so long as their conduct 
is ostensibly carried out in their official capacity as President.
  They incorrectly declared, in effect, the same thing Richard Nixon 
told David Frost in 1977. Nixon said:

       When the President does it, that means that it is not 
     illegal.

  That is what the Court, in effect, was saying.
  We were all taught in grade school that there are no kings here in 
America, but what the conservative Justices have done is effectively 
placed a crown on Donald Trump's head. In their judgment, the President 
is now free to behave however he likes, even to behave criminally, and 
as long as he argues that he was acting as President, he is, in many 
ways, untouchable.
  The conservative majority's decision on immunity is the most un-
American proposition, the very antithesis of what the Framers 
envisioned. Presidential immunity is nowhere to be found in the 
constitution, and this lawless ruling underscores just how hollow the 
conservative Justices' commitment to originalism truly is.
  We Democrats will not let the Supreme Court's decision stand 
unaddressed. The Constitution makes plain that Congress has the 
authority to check the judiciary through appropriate legislation. I 
will work with my colleagues on legislation classifying Trump's 
election subversion acts as ``unofficial acts'' not subject to 
immunity. We are doing this because we believe that in America, no 
President should be free to overturn an election

[[Page S4216]]

against the will of the people, no matter what the conservative 
Justices may believe.
  As we work on this important matter, we will also keep working on 
other proposals to reassert Congress's article I authority to rein in 
the abuse of our Federal judiciary. The American people are tired--just 
tired--of Justices who think they are beyond accountability.
  The Supreme Court's ruling in Trump v. United States is just the 
finishing touch on one of the most destructive Supreme Court terms in 
modern history. A few days before the ruling on Presidential immunity, 
the MAGA Court also upended 40 years of precedent by overturning the 
Chevron doctrine. In doing so, they have potentially turned the Federal 
Government upside down in a very dangerous way, declaring that judges 
now know better than Agency experts on matters ranging from student 
loans to Medicare, to AI, to climate change, to net neutrality, and so 
much more.
  From now on, anytime there is a shred of legislative ambiguity, 
anytime Congress didn't explicitly anticipate every conceivable 
scenario for how Agencies should apply complex policy, judges are now 
free to impose their own views even if they don't know a lick about the 
policy in question, even though they are the unelected branch of 
government. It is impossible for the Congress to think of every 
possible scenario, so either you have subject-matter experts in the 
administration making a judgment call or unelected judges making a 
judgment call. That was the whole point of the Chevron doctrine--to 
give administrative subject-matter experts some deference.
  The MAGA Court's annihilation of the Chevron doctrine is their latest 
and most dangerous attempt to side with powerful special interests 
against the wishes of the middle class, to come up with new legal 
theory to suit their ideological needs and overturn decades of well-
accepted precedent.
  These cases are just the start. In the last few months, the 
conservative majority on the Supreme Court also has upheld racial 
gerrymandering in South Carolina--can you imagine?--allowed the 
criminalization of homelessness, struck down the commonsense ban on 
bumps stocks, defanged the EPA's ability to regulate against air 
pollution, and so much more.
  It all points to a clear, growing, disturbing trend emerging out of 
the Supreme Court. It is plain as day--plain as day--that this MAGA 
majority is hell-bent on siphoning power away from the electorate and 
from the other branches in order to reshape America in their 
ultraconservative and extreme vision.
  So I will repeat what I said at the top of my remarks. American 
democracy now stands at a crossroads. The MAGA Court's disastrous 
rulings are the clearest illustration of why elections have 
consequences. And this year, the American people will choose between 
two vastly different visions for our country.
  If Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office, if Republicans retake 
control of Congress, the disastrous rulings coming out of the Supreme 
Court will just be the start. The chaos we saw on January 6 will just 
be the start. If they get the chance, Donald Trump and the MAGA right 
will plunge our country into an abyss of extremism that the vast 
majority of Americans oppose and America has really never seen.
  Nowhere else is this contrast between Democrats and Republicans as 
clear as on the issue of reproductive freedom. This week, Senate 
Democrats intend to pick up where we left off in June by bringing every 
single Member of this Chamber to task on a woman's fundamental right to 
choose. It is our goal to take up a very simple resolution, cosponsored 
by every female Senator in our caucus and myself, that asks a very, 
very simple question: Where do Senators stand on freedom of choice? Do 
we believe that a woman should have a basic right to reproductive care? 
Do we agree that the rights protected under Roe should be Federal law? 
Freedom of choice is perhaps the defining issue for Americans this 
year, and this week, every Senator must show where they stand. Of 
course, Democrats have already made it abundantly clear where we stand: 
Yes, we emphatically believe women should be free to make their own 
healthcare choices.
  Democrats also believe in building on the incredible progress of the 
last 3\1/2\ years. Under Democratic leadership, we made great strides 
in America to lower the cost of living. We made prescription drugs, 
like insulin, more affordable. We have brought manufacturing jobs back 
to our shores. We have invested in clean energy economy. On the world 
stage, we have stood up to defend democracy against autocrats and 
restored America's good name among the free nations of the world.
  Donald Trump and the MAGA right cannot say any of this. Instead, what 
Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans have made clear is that if they get 
into power, they will dismantle American democracy as we know it. MAGA 
radicals are long done with talking and euphemisms. The leader of one 
of America's most powerful conservative think tanks recently made the 
hard right's goals very clear:

       We are in the process of the second American Revolution, 
     which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.

  That, Madam President, is the kind of talk that leads to political 
violence.
  To go down the road that MAGA radicals want to take is to take 
America into the twilight zone--something more akin to the autocratic 
fervor we saw in Europe in the early 20th century than the America we 
all know and love.
  So the stakes for our country this year are immense. Here in the 
Senate, Democrats will continue bringing to the floor the issues that 
matter to Americans most and will work ferociously to defend them.
  While it is tempting to reduce elections nowadays to a form of 
reality TV, the truth is, the stakes are much higher. It is a battle 
for two radically different visions of our country.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.