Members of Congress should oppose H.R. 1789, the “Promptly Ending Political Prosecutions and Executive Retaliation Act” (PEPPER Act), according to a letter sent to House leadership by CREW and 38 other organizations, including Accountable.Us, Indivisible, League of Conservation Voters, Project on Government Oversight and Public Citizen.

The PEPPER Act represents a dangerous step towards making the president a king. The bill would allow current and former executive branch officials, including the president and vice president, to transfer civil or criminal cases against them from state to federal courts. In federal court, they would have broad presumptive immunity from prosecution buttressed by severe restrictions on the evidence that can be introduced against them. The bill would also require federal courts to dismiss almost all cases against both sitting and former presidents and vice presidents.

In this way, the PEPPER Act would not merely codify the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. U.S., as its proponents have claimed. Rather, it would vastly expand the already-sweeping immunity created by that case, making sitting and former presidents, vice presidents and executive branch officials completely immune from the requirements of state law. And taken together, the PEPPER Act and Trump v. U.S. would shield the president in perpetuity from almost all forms of legal accountability, allowing them to engage in misconduct with complete impunity.

At the same time, the PEPPER Act would seemingly have no impact on Department of Justice  prosecutions against executive branch officials. Thus, it would not impede the Trump administration’s ability to potentially bring vengeful political prosecutions against former executive branch officials, while allowing President Trump to protect members of his administration from future federal prosecution by issuing pardons. In other words, the PEPPER Act could create a landscape where all high-ranking Trump administration officials functionally receive an exclusive pass protecting them from any future state or federal prosecutions relating to their official acts.

By essentially immunizing high-ranking executive branch officials from state and federal prosecution, the PEPPER Act would upend the delicate balance of power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal government, as well as between the federal government and the states. This bill would discard nearly 250 years of constitutional governance, allowing the executive branch to run roughshod over the other branches and the states. In order to protect our shared democratic values, rooted in the principle that politicians are accountable to the people, members of Congress must vote against the PEPPER Act. 

Read the letter here.

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