“This is a death squad ruling": Maddow says SCOTUS immunity ruling goes further than Trump asked for

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Monday underscored the gravity of a recent Supreme Court decision that is expected to allow Donald Trump to receive broad immunity from criminal charges for "official acts" taken while in office. The ruling, a 6-3 split along ideological lines, saw Chief Justice John Roberts deliver the majority opinion.

“I really did not expect that they would do this,” said Maddow, a staunch critic of the former president. "Donald Trump and his counsel asked for this 100 percent absolute immunity thing, which was insane. I would say they got 105 percent of what they were asking for.”

"The practical impact of what they have done is to give Trump immunity that even he and his counsel did not ask for," the host added.

Maddow also noted the hypothetical questions posed by Trump's attorney ahead of the ruling, who floated the idea that presidential immunity should cover situations as extreme as a president assassinating a political opponent.

“This is a death squad ruling,” Maddow argued. “This is a ruling that 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, not only while you are president, but forever.”

“This explicitly immunizes anything the president wants to do through the Justice Department but all but explicitly justifies anything the president wants to do, full stop, to anyone,” Maddow continued. “And that is as serious as it gets.”