The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday returned an assertion by former President Donald Trump that he is immune from prosecution for activities undertaken during his presidency to a lower court.
There are pending cases against the former president over the January 6th, 2021, riots at the Capitol Building and an alleged scheme to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election.
In a landmark ruling, the justices voted 6-3 that although former presidents are granted absolute immunity for their official acts, such protection doesn’t extend to unofficial acts.
It was the first time the Court ever explicitly revealed how far presidential immunity extends after leaving office.
Rather than make a final ruling on Trump’s specific case, though, the Supreme Court passed the buck and returned the matter to the lower courts to decide on a case-by-case basis whether Trump’s actions were official or private.
Bench and Beyond Reaction
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the dissenters, was appalled by the precedent set.
“Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the presidency. It mocks the principle—rooted in our Constitution and system of government—that no man is above the law,” she wrote.
Justice Sotomayor then warned that the decision, in effect, makes the president “above the law.”
Former Attorney General Eric Holder also weighed against the ruling, describing it as “absurd and dangerous” and insisting he believed the decision did considerable damage to American democracy.
Is Trump’s Legal Battle Not Ending?
His lawyers have always contended that Donald Trump was acting in an official capacity as president when he committed acts that generated the basis for the charges against him.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges in August, framed it as a rejection of such immunity on behalf of the idea that nobody, including the president, stands above the law.
The Supreme Court has further prolonged the judicial process. A trial was once scheduled for March 4th, but that date has lapsed, and a new date has not yet been set.
The delays will benefit Trump because he may continue to win the presidential election again. Then, he may be able to quash or dismiss the charges by utilising the presidential power in his favour.
Mr. Trump, who denies the charges, faces many other legal actions.
Federal investigations into the former president, overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith, have brought two other criminal cases— among them, one regarding attempts to subvert the election outcome in 2020 and another about mishandling classified files in Florida.
Another case, this one in Georgia, hinges on Trump’s activities after his loss in the 2020 election.
He has consistently referred to those cases as politically motivated, aiming to undermine his chances of returning to the White House.
In May, Trump became the first former president in U.S. history to face a felony charge.
He was convicted of falsifying business records to hide the hush money payment made in 2016 to Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she had an affair with him—Trump denied this.
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