Judges in the US Supreme Court Thursday ruled on an appeal by former US President Donald Trump regarding his claimed immunity from prosecution over his efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump appealed after lower courts rejected his bid for protection from a federal criminal case.
The Supreme Court judges rejected the lower courts’ ruling and sent the case back to them, but did not give a clear ruling on whether Trump was in fact immune from prosecution.
The decision will, however, mean that a trial before the November election is now highly unlikely.
What did the Supreme Court judges say?
In the historic ruling, which saw a 6-3 agreement, the US top court said that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for their official acts and no immunity for unofficial acts.
However, the justices did not outline what separates official and unofficial acts, which is to say acts carried out in a private capacity, referring that decision instead to the lower court.
A statement of the ruling said that a former president “is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”
The three liberal justices dissented from the decision. Of the six who agreed, three were appointed by Trump during his time in the White House.
Trump celebrates ‘big win’
The former president, and current presumptive Republican nominee for this year’s run for the White House, took to social media to celebrate the decision.
“Big win for our constitution and democracy. Proud to be an American!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
His expected opponent is current President Joe Biden, setting the stage for a rematch of the 2020 election.
Biden’s campaign commented that Trump “thinks he’s above the law” following the ruling.
Election expert David Becker called Monday’s ruling “deeply disturbing,” the Associated Press reported.
“Almost anything that a president does with the executive branch is characterized as an official act,” he said on a call with reporters following the ruling.
“I think putting aside this particular prosecution, for any unscrupulous individual holding the seat of the Oval Office who might lose an election, the way I read this opinion is it could be a road map for them seeking to stay in power.”
What we know about the case
Trump had argued that US presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts they took in office and that the indictment he faces on charges of election interference must be dismissed.
The 78-year-old, who is in a tight rematch race against White House incumbent Joe Biden for the November 5 election, nominated three of the six conservatives on the nine-member court.
Conservative justices had previously voiced concern about presidents lacking any level of immunity.
While the Supreme Court has previously ruled that ex-presidents can’t be sued in civil cases for their actions in the Oval Office, it has never previously pronounced on criminal immunity.
Trump’s trial on the indictment by Special Counsel Jack Smith, in Washington, DC, will most likely not happen before the November election, especially since the lower courts must now rule on whether his actions were carried out in his official role as president or not.
Trump faces indictments in four cases, in both federal and state courts. The other federal case, brought by the same special counsel, relates to allegedly mishandling classified documents,
One of the state cases is about alleged election interference in Georgia. The other concerns Trump’s role in a hush-money scheme involving a porn star, for which he has already been convicted of a felony and faces sentencing in July.
More to come… Please refresh your browser for updates.
ab,rc/msh (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
