This is an opinion column.

The outcome of the 2024 presidential election is far from certain. President Joe Biden, beleaguered by an immigration crisis, wars around the globe, and waning popularity orders a Navy SEAL team to storm Mar-A-Lago and assassinate Donald Trump. Under Trump’s view of presidential immunity, Biden would be beyond the reach of federal prosecutors…potentially forever. The president must be free to make difficult decisions while in office, but Americans should not allow any politician to operate entirely above the law.

Trump has repeatedly argued for absolute presidential immunity for civil or criminal liability for official acts. More specifically, he claims that the president enjoys such immunity unless he’s impeached and removed from office.

“Even events that “cross the line” must fall under total immunity,” Trump wrote in a recent Truth Social post. “You can’t stop police from doing the job of strong & effective crime prevention because you want to guard against the occasional ‘rogue cop’ or ‘bad apple.’ Sometimes you just have to live with the ‘great but slightly imperfect.’”

In oral arguments Jan. 9 before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Trump’s attorney, D. John Sauer, claimed that the any president should indeed, absent impeachment and removal from office, be immune from prosecution for ordering U.S. Navy commandos to assassinate a political rival.

Trump is correct on at least one front. We shouldn’t permit criminal indictment and prosecution while a president is in office.

Even in extreme cases, we cannot allow a federal or state prosecutor to wield power over a sitting president of the United States. Criminal prosecution would undoubtedly tangle the president and prevent him or her from effectively carrying out the great demands of the position.

America’s public interest in an unfettered presidency ends the moment he or she leaves office. While it’s shameful for a former president to face criminal charges, the legal proceedings no longer burden executive branch functionality.

The Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice (OLC) has, on at least two occasions, issued guidance specifically related to the issue of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution.

According to guidance issued in 2000 and updated in 2018, “a sitting President is constitutionally immune from indictment and criminal prosecution.”

Trump would add that a former president is immune from criminal prosecution indefinitely unless he or she is impeached and removed from office. All Americans, Republican or Democrat, should reject Trump’s expansion of presidential immunity quickly and decisively.

The impeachment process is a purely political act. The Constitution limits its reach to removal from office. While impeachment is and should be a serious endeavor, many of the Constitution’s due process safeguards in a criminal proceeding are conspicuously absent. For example, the impeachment “jury” is hardly impartial. Simply put, Congress isn’t and shouldn’t be a gatekeeper to the criminal prosecution of a former president.

One of America’s highest principles is that none of our leaders are above the law. Presidents take care that the laws are faithfully executed, but they are not kings who declare law by royal edict.

Trump argues that the mere possibility of prosecution upon departure from the White House would preclude presidents from executing their jobs while in office. A president might be so fearful of future prison time that he would be incapable of meeting their constitutional obligations.

As a practical matter, Americans shouldn’t vote for candidates who aren’t sure they can faithfully execute the office of president without violating state or federal laws. Virtually all of Trump’s predecessors have been able to pull it off.

Prior to Trump, President Ulysses S. Grant was the only president ever taken into custody…over an admitted speeding charge which resulted in release and a fine. Nixon certainly faced criminal liability, but he was pardoned by President Gerald Ford.

While “great but slightly imperfect” is a reasonable standard for a president, behaving like a “rogue cop” is not. Police officers aren’t immune from criminal liability even while on duty. We wouldn’t want them to be. Police could shoot suspects with impunity. They could shake down drivers at traffic stops. If a kid decided to have a smart mouth, a night stick to the head would quickly shut him up.

Local law enforcement has one of the toughest, most thankless jobs in the nation, and they deserve our encouragement and support. Even so, only an insane person would suggest that we grant absolute criminal immunity to law enforcement because only a few of them might abuse it.

While Trump has the right to raise any number of defenses during his criminal proceedings, his new version of presidential immunity is both un-American and dangerous. He may well prove his innocence in court, but presidents do not and should not enjoy a “get out of jail free” card once they leave office.

Smith is a recovering political attorney with four boys, two dogs, a bearded dragon, and an extremely patient wife. He’s a partner in a media company, a business strategy wonk, and a regular on talk radio. Please direct outrage or agreement to [email protected] or @DCameronSmith on X or @davidcameronsmith on Threads.