US President Joe Biden has slammed the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity, warning it will mean “virtually no limits” on what a president can do.

In a 6-3 divided decision, the court ruled on Tuesday (AEST) that ex-presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, which has direct implications for the January 6 criminal case against Donald Trump.

Echoing warnings from some of the dissenting justices, Biden said the decision would set a “dangerous precedent” and was “a terrible disservice to the people of this nation”.

“This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each of us is equal before the law. No one, no one is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” Biden said.

“[With] today’s Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed for all practical purposes.”

Biden said Americans deserved an answer in court about the January 6 charges against Trump before they voted in the presidential election later this year.

He said the US presidency was the most powerful office in the world that not only tested one’s judgment but character.

“You not only face moments where you need the courage to exercise the full power of the presidency,” said Biden.

“You also face moments where you need the wisdom to respect the limits of the power of the office of the presidency.”

He concluded his brief response by stating: “I dissent.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers have used the opportunity to ask the New York judge who presided over his hush money trial to set aside his conviction and delay his sentencing scheduled for later this month.

A letter to Judge Juan M. Merchan cited the US Supreme Court’s ruling and asked him to delay Trump’s sentencing.

The lawyers argue that the Supreme Court’s decision confirmed a position the defence raised earlier in the case that prosecutors should have been precluded from introducing some evidence they said constituted official presidential acts, according to the letter.

In prior court filings, Trump contended he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.

Trump’s lawyers did not raise that as a defence in the hush money case. But they argued that some evidence – including Trump’s social media posts about former lawyer Michael Cohen – came from his time as US president and should have been excluded from the trial because of immunity protections.

Trump was convicted in New York of 34 counts of falsifying business records, arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment just before the 2016 presidential election.

Merchan instituted a policy in the run-up to the trial requiring both sides to send him a one-page letter summarising their arguments before making longer court filings.

He said he did that to better manage the docket, so he was not inundated with voluminous paperwork.

-with AAP