Trump has immunity for official acts only - US Supreme Court decides

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to defend himself against criminal charges relating to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss on Monday, marking the first time that the court had acknowledged that former presidents are immune from prosecution for certain actions taken while in office.

As to the 6-3 ruling of the court, former presidents are not entitled to immunity for activities committed in their private capacity, even if they are taken within the scope of their constitutional authority. With this decision, the Supreme Court for the first time since the country’s founding in the eighteenth century ruled that previous presidents might always be protected from prosecution.

The six-justice conservative majority on the court made the historic decision known by Chief Justice John Roberts. The three liberal justices of the court disagreed.

The ruling arose from Trump’s appeal of an earlier court decision that denied his claim of immunity. On the final day of the court’s session, the matter was settled.

In a rematch from four years ago, Trump is the Republican nominee running against Democratic President Joe Biden on November 5 in the US election. Because he was president at the time he did the actions that resulted in the accusations, Trump had claimed he was immune from punishment. Smith had argued that no one is above the law and had rejected presidential immunity from prosecution.

Trump’s legal team requested the justices to grant previous presidents “absolute immunity”—complete protection from criminal prosecution for actions made while in office—during the case’s April 25 arguments. Trump’s attorney claimed that in the absence of immunity, political opponents would be able to “blackmail and extort” sitting presidents by threatening to bring charges in the future.

Three of the conservative majority judges on the court were chosen by President Trump. Smith’s accusations of election subversion represent one of Trump’s four criminal prosecutions.

The 78-year-old Trump is the first former president of the United States to face criminal charges and to be found guilty of a crime.

(Source: Reuters)