I do wonder if any following the President orders, like assassinating political opponents, will be immune from prosecution as well.
What do you think
@Mr._Clark ?
I don't think so, but the President could pardon them. This wouldn't prevent prosecution under state laws, but I'm not sure how effective that would be if the President ordered people to assassinate the state officials who attempted to enforce the state laws.
The question I'm kicking around in my own mind is what's to stop a future president from putting in place his own heavily armed security service that reports directly to the president? Basically, a modern version of the SS that does not take an oath to support the Constitution or to bear allegiance to anyone or anything other than the president. It would be his personal mob style hit squad.
I suspect there would be many who'd be willing to join if Trump wins the election, but there could be a maniac with maniacal followers from the other end of the political spectrum in the future.
The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits use of the military in this way, but so what? The president would say his security group is not the military, and he can't be criminally prosecuted for violating the law anyway.
The militia clause of the Constitution says Congress has the power to call up militias, but the president could say his group is not a militia, and the Constitution doesn't say the president can't create a security service that reports directly to him.
The biggest hurdle I see is that criminal immunity requires an official act in the capacity as president, and it's not clear a president could set up a rogue hit squad and successfully convince a court that his control of the hit squad was an official act.
I haven't spent a lot time on this question. Hopefully I'm missing something.
