Supreme Court rules Trump gets limited immunity from prosecution
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Donald Trump's motion to dismiss federal cases against him due to his absolute immunity as president. Their decision ruled Trump has some immunity.
The court ruled 6-3, rejecting his claim of absolute immunity from all prosecution but stating that former presidents have absolute immunity for core constitutional powers, but not everything a president does is an official act.
But the decision does not conclude if Trump's actions on Jan. 6 fall under official duties and it will likely be left to a lower court to decide that.
"We conclude that under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power requires that a former President have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office," the decision from Chief Justice John Roberts.
"At least with respect to the President’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute. As for his remaining official actions, he is also entitled to immunity.
"At the current stage of proceedings in this case, however, we need not and do not decide whether that immunity must be absolute, or instead whether a presumptive immunity is sufficient."
Trump faces two federal cases, one involving the theft of government documents and the second related to the 2020 election. In the latter, Trump's lawyers motioned to dismiss the case because, as president, he has the ability to do whatever he wants without the consequence of legal prosecution."
During oral arguments, Trump's own lawyer agreed that the president should only be held accountable for unofficial actions, then claimed that Trump's behavior around the stolen documents and the 2020 election were official. The special counsel believes the opposite.
Previous cases have the high courts ruling that anything a president does in service of the office of the presidency is immune from prosecution. Trump's motion takes that to the extreme by claiming that anything he does is protected by presidential immunity.
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The case came from the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals, where Trump's lawyers were asked whether their argument was that the president could go so far as to order Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival. Trump's lawyers agreed.
Trump also fantasized about what he would be allowed to do to President Joe Biden if the Supreme Court were to rule presidential authority is limited. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that if he wins in 2024, Biden could be prosecuted for any policy "mistakes" Trump deemed so.
Most legal analysts agree that this is an incorrect reading of both the law and the case itself.
The election case has been on hold, while awaiting the court's decision. After a decision is made, President Judge Tanya Chutkan can move the case forward.
"It is a cardinal principle of our law that no person is above the law," said Neal Katyal ahead of the ruling. "I think that's what our American Constitution is founded on. I think it will be a grave disservice to our constitutional democracy, the Supreme Court, to even chip away at that fundamental principle. I sure hope they don't. I expect they won't."
The problem, another panelist pointed out, is that the delay has already given Trump what he needs, "making it very difficult, if not impossible, for him to be tried before the election and for the American public to see all the evidence that is against him," Katyal continued.
He noted it's important for people to remember former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who penned an op-ed saying that she didn't have access to a lot of the information that special counsel Jack Smith has because Trump hid it from them. She also said that she and the Jan. 6 committee didn't have access to enforce subpoenas, but Smith does have the evidence and that power, and she argued that Americans have the right to see it.
Trump has implied over the past several months that the case wasn't about him but about President Joe Biden because if Trump wins the presidency, he intends to prosecute Biden. He doesn't have a crime, however, and the House Republicans have struggled for years to find one.