US Supreme Court says Donald Trump has immunity from ‘official acts’ as president
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The US Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump enjoys criminal immunity for his actions as president in a decision that is likely to delay his trial on charges of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Monday’s landmark decision shields Trump from “official” actions. Lower courts will now have to draw the line between the president’s personal and official actions.
This potentially time-consuming process reduces the likelihood of any verdict in the election interference case before November ballota victory for Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
If elected, Trump could instruct the Justice Department to drop the case. In a social media post, he wrote: “BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND OUR DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
Positive decision for trumpet comes as his rival, President Joe Biden,’s campaign is reeling after a disastrous performance at last week’s presidential debate.
In a 6-3 vote, Supreme Court held that a former president has absolute immunity for actions taken in the exercise of his “core constitutional rights” and “is entitled to at least temporary immunity from prosecution for all his official acts.”
“The president does not enjoy immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything he does is official. The president is not above the law,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “But Congress may not criminalize presidential conduct in the exercise of his constitutional executive responsibilities. And the system of separation of powers designed by the Founders always required an active, independent executive.”
In a scathing dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the majority’s decision “reshapes the institution of the presidency” and “destroys a foundational principle of our Constitution and system of government, that no one is above the law.”
The majority of courts “invented immunity through force” and “in effect, completely isolated[s] “Presidents are not criminally liable,” Sotomayor added. “Out of concern for our democracy, I disagree.”
Later on Monday, Biden quoted Sotomayor, saying: “The American people should protest too. I protest.”
The decision “almost certainly means there are virtually no limits to what a president can do,” Biden said. “This is a fundamentally new principle” and the court’s latest “attack” on “a long-established set of legal principles.” The ruling, which virtually eliminates Trump’s chances of facing trial before November, is “a terrible disservice to the people of this country,” he added.
Trump’s lawyers have argued for a broad interpretation of immunity, saying that presidents can only be prosecuted if they have previously been impeached and convicted by Congress for similar crimes — even in some of the most extreme cases — to allow them to do their jobs without fear of politically motivated prosecution. The Justice Department argues that doing so could encourage presidents to flout the law with impunity.
Roberts noted that lower courts have yet to determine which of Trump’s alleged actions “should be classified as official and which as unofficial.” He added that the process “raises many unprecedented and important questions about the president’s powers and the constitutional limits of his authority.”
For example, Trump’s discussions with the acting US attorney general count as an “official relationship,” but other incidents, such as Trump’s public comments as well as interactions with then-Vice President Mike Pence or state officials, “raise more difficult questions,” Roberts added.
The court has previously ruled on presidential immunity from civil liability, but this is the first time it has ruled on it in relation to criminal cases.
A federal appeals court unanimously ruled in February that Trump did not have immunity in the case. The Supreme Court decided later that month to take up Trump’s appeal, with oral arguments scheduled for late April, effectively halting proceedings in the trial for months.
Monday’s decision will not affect Trump’s criminal case in New York state court, where he was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to “hush money” payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels aimed at suppressing damaging stories about him ahead of the 2016 general election. Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in that case on July 11.
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The former president has also been charged in a Georgia state court in an extortion case related to the 2020 election and in a separate federal indictment accusing him of mishandling classified documents. But those proceedings have yet to go to trial amid a legal dispute between Trump and US prosecutors.
A senior Biden campaign adviser said the ruling “doesn’t change the facts, so let’s be clear about what happened on January 6: Donald Trump went on a rampage after losing the 2020 election and encouraged a mob to overturn the results of a free and fair election.”
