Rachel Maddow appalled by Supreme Court’s ‘death squad ruling’

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, a vocal critic of recent Supreme Court rulings, admitted Monday that even she was surprised at how favorable the court was toward Donald Trump when it ruled that presidents were entitled to immunity for “official” acts committed while in office.

She argued that the decision essentially gives presidents the ability to do “absolutely anything” without fear of legal consequences.

“I really didn’t expect them to do this,” Maddow said Monday during a panel discussion on the network. “Donald Trump and his lawyer asked for this 100 percent immunity thing, which was crazy. I would say they got 105 percent of what they asked for.”

The court ruled in a 6-3 vote in which Trump’s three nominees joined to form the majority that former presidents are immune from prosecution for “official” acts. The ruling, which came more than four months after the court decided to take the case in an election year, was a “BIG VICTORY,” Trump said.

Maddow added moments later that questions raised during oral arguments in April, such as the legality of a president ordering assassinations, seemed strangely acceptable to the court.

“The practical effect of their actions is that Trump is given immunity that even he and his counsel did not seek. And since the hypothetical questions in the course of these arguments – as you correctly noted – included things like ‘Can a president assassinate a rival?’, I think we have to take the Supreme Court’s affirmative answer to that – yes, you can – with the seriousness it deserves,” she said.

“This is a death sentence,” she continued. “The sentence says that as long as you can construe it as an official or quasi-official act, you can do absolutely anything – absolutely anything! – and never be held accountable for it, not just while you’re president, but forever.”

The MSNBC host warned: “This makes anything the president wants to do through the Justice Department expressly immune and justifies virtually anything the president wants to do, period, to anyone. And that is as serious as it gets.”