The powerful Senate Judiciary Committee earned mixed reactions Thursday as it announced plans to review the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s ruling in former President Donald Trump's immunity case — with some saying it's "too little, too late."
Illinois Sen. Dick Durban, chairman of the panel, told HuffPost in a statement members will be hold a hearing — in September — at which they will "examine the breadth of future misconduct that may be immunized from prosecution, consider the unprecedented nature of this immunity in American history, and discuss legislative solutions to the dangers of this decision.
“The Senate Judiciary Committee will not tolerate these justices cherry-picking their way through text and history to impose their own extreme vision of presidential power on the American people,” Durbin said, saying Congress cannot turn a "blind-eye" to the high court's "dangerous decision" that "immunizes presidents who commit crimes."
“The far-right justices responsible for this decision like to claim that they are guided by ‘textualism’ or ‘originalism,’ but the reality is that they’re engaged in judicial activism unmoored from the text of the Constitution and intentions of our framers.”
The judiciary committee confirmed the hearing on X.
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No exact date or list of witnesses was provided.
The move comes as Democrats fight back against the Supreme Court, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introducing on Wednesday articles of impeachment against Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also said Thursday he's working with colleagues on legislation plans that will rein in the presidential immunity decision.
"One possible avenue: clarifying that Donald Trump’s election-subversion acts do not count as official acts of the presidency," he said, according to HuffPost Senior politics reporter Jennifer Bendery.
The judiciary move was met with cheers and jeers on social media, as well as calls for the panel to go further, such as investigating Alito and Thomas.
"Too little, too late," remarked @smbpatch on X.
"No rush," chided @sl_lbcake, who added an eye-rolling emoji.
Some went even further in their criticism of the panel.
"@SenatorDurbin rouses momentarily from his slumber to do the barest minimum in exercising the formidable powers of the Judiciary Committee to counter an insurrectionist Supreme Court," wrote @_RitaMoore. "Durbin should step aside and let @SenWhitehouse lead the committee."
"No rush whatsoever," said @mredelstein. "Gotta get to Martha’s V for the season."
"Oh, good. They might resolve to draft a strogly-worded statement or something," @DashingDownward deadpanned.
